“Anyone can get sick, I almost got poisoned on a call”
We spoke with an experienced anesthesiologist-resuscitator who dealt with a similar case. Trying to save the already unconscious child, he himself almost died from carbon monoxide.
This was in 2012, recalls the emergency doctor medical care from Bobruisk Konstantin Tolstonogov. - The parents found their daughter unconscious in the bathroom. When we arrived, she was lying on the sofa - her pupils were wide, there was no breathing or heartbeat. There is no smell in the apartment, the family is happy, it doesn’t look like suicide. But the suspicion that something was wrong arose immediately. The girl’s body was not pale, not bluish, but pink, as happens with carbon monoxide poisoning. The apartment had a gas water heater - branded, in working order, automatic. According to the girl’s parents, there were never any problems with her, and we somehow excluded this threat. 28th minute of resuscitation. There is no result. And then we all swam. Weakness, drowsiness, shortness of breath, throbbing in the head... It dawned on us - it’s carbon monoxide. Everyone get out of the apartment. Personally, I was no longer able to run, I lay down right on the landing...
At our request, a resuscitation doctor answered our questions about the deadly gas.
The product is not complete combustion any fuel that contains carbon - gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, natural gas, coal, firewood... It can form absolutely everywhere. When organic matter burns completely, carbon dioxide (CO2) and water are formed. But if there is not enough oxygen during the combustion process, under-oxidized carbon monoxide is formed - carbon monoxide (CO).
Why is carbon monoxide dangerous?
Where is the risk of carbon monoxide the greatest?
In apartments with gas water heaters, gas stoves, garages and basements, especially if any work was carried out there renovation work. In bathhouses and private houses with stove heating, where the damper is often closed without waiting for the firewood to burn completely.
How to recognize carbon monoxide?
It has neither color nor smell. If you feel weakness, drowsiness, rapid heartbeat, or your consciousness is swimming, this is a signal. Immediately leave the room for air. Carbon monoxide quickly and tightly binds to hemoglobin, and it can no longer carry oxygen. Oxygen starvation sets in. The central nervous system and cardiovascular system immediately suffer from it.
What to do to avoid getting burned?
Monitor the serviceability of equipment and ventilation, check the draft before each use of gas equipment, open windows as often as possible, and light the stove very carefully.
AND AT THIS TIME
"If you use gas equipment that's right, nothing will happen"
- There are more than 100 thousand Belarusians in apartments geysers. If they are potentially dangerous, why not remove them?
If houses have gas water heaters, most likely the house was built in the 60-80s of the last century, and, therefore, at that time it was impossible to organize a centralized supply there hot water, - Sergei Borodavko, deputy chief engineer of the MINSKOBLGAZ Unitary Enterprise, commented to Komsomolskaya Pravda. - To dismantle geysers, you need to run water supply pipes to the house. It is expensive and technically difficult. Such a task is not worth it now. But, believe me, if the column is in working order and it is used correctly, it does not pose any threat.
- How can you determine for yourself whether there is traction or not?
Each gas water heater has special windows or slots, to which you need to hold a lit match or candle to check the presence of draft in the chimney. If the flame deviates inward, everything is fine, there is draft. If not, it's a mess. To check the ventilation duct, you can hold a piece of paper to it. If it sticks to ventilation grille– ventilation is working.
- Do gas workers have instruments that can measure the concentration of carbon monoxide?
Gas workers determine only the concentration of liquefied and natural gas. The Ministry of Emergency Situations or other organizations that check the serviceability of chimneys and ventilation ducts.
One of possible reasons, according to which carbon monoxide has accumulated in a house in Borisov - a clogged chimney. Are there chimneys in every house or only in those where gas equipment is installed?
Chimneys are found everywhere where it is necessary to ensure the removal of combustion products, including in houses with gas water heaters and boilers. In most cases, these are private houses, as well as multi-storey buildings. residential buildings with apartment heating.
- Who is responsible for the timely inspection and serviceability of chimneys?
According to the Rules for the Use of Gas at Home, the obligation to check the condition of smoke and ventilation ducts is assigned to the organizations operating housing stock or providing housing and communal services, as well as gas consumers. According to their requests specialized organizations, who have the appropriate permits, carry out performance checks of chimneys and ventilation ducts. The gas supply organization does not inspect smoke and ventilation ducts. But she is the one who carries out the maintenance of geysers.
BY THE WAY
A gas detector will help to detect materials released during smoldering and combustion, including carbon monoxide: it will beep in time and report the danger. Price – about 200 thousand rubles.
Carbon monoxide, or carbon monoxide ( chemical formula CO) is an extremely poisonous, colorless gas. It is a must-have product incomplete combustion carbon-containing substances: determined in automobile exhaust gases, cigarette smoke, smoke from fires, etc. Carbon monoxide has no odor, so it is impossible to detect its presence and assess the concentration in the inhaled air without instruments.
Source: depositphotos.com
Once in the blood, carbon monoxide displaces oxygen from its connection with the respiratory protein hemoglobin and inhibits the functioning of active centers responsible for the formation of new hemoglobin, thereby causing acute oxygen starvation of tissues. In addition, carbon monoxide disrupts the flow of oxidative processes in the body.
Carbon monoxide, which has a high affinity for the respiratory protein, attaches to it much more actively than oxygen. For example, if the concentration of CO in the inhaled air is only 0.1% of the total volume (the ratio of carbon monoxide and oxygen is 1:200, respectively), hemoglobin will bind equal amounts of both gases, i.e. half of the respiratory protein circulating in the systemic bloodstream will be occupied by carbon dioxide gas.
The breakdown of the carboxyhemoglobin molecule (hemoglobin-carbon monoxide) occurs approximately 10,000 times slower than the oxyhemoglobin molecule (hemoglobin-oxygen), which determines the danger and severity of poisoning.
Car exhaust gases contain a maximum of 13.5% carbon monoxide, with an average of 6-6.5%. So, a low-power 20 hp engine. With. produces up to 28 liters of CO per minute, creating a lethal concentration of gas in the air within 5 minutes in a closed room (garage, repair box).
Characteristic symptoms of poisoning appear after 2–6 hours of inhalation of air containing 0.22–0.23 mg of carbon monoxide per liter; severe poisoning with loss of consciousness and death can develop after 20-30 minutes at a carbon monoxide concentration of 3.4–5.7 mg/l and after 1-3 minutes at a poison concentration of 14 mg/l.
Carbon monoxide poisoning most often occurs in the following cases:
- improper operation or malfunction of furnace equipment, gas heating appliances;
- staying in an unventilated enclosed area with the car engine running;
- fire;
- smoldering electrical wiring, household appliances, interior details and furniture;
- violation of safety regulations when working in chemical production where carbon monoxide is used.
The likelihood of poisoning is directly proportional to the concentration of carbon monoxide in the inhaled air and the time of its exposure to the body.
Symptoms of poisoning
The nervous system is most sensitive to changes in oxygen levels in the blood. The degree of damage can vary from mild, reversible to generalized, leading to temporary or permanent disability, and in especially severe cases, death of the victim.
In addition to the nervous system, the respiratory (tracheitis, tracheobronchitis, pneumonia) and cardiovascular (dystrophy and necrotization of the myocardium, degenerative changes in the walls of blood vessels) systems are most often involved in the pathological process.
Depending on the concentration of CO in the air and, accordingly, carboxyhemoglobin in the blood, several degrees of carbon monoxide poisoning are distinguished.
Symptoms of mild poisoning (carboxyhemoglobin content in the blood does not exceed 30%):
- consciousness is preserved;
- squeezing, pressing headache, reminiscent of being tied with a hoop;
- dizziness, noise, ringing in the ears;
- lacrimation, copious discharge from the nose;
- nausea, vomiting;
- mild transient visual impairment is possible;
- difficulty breathing;
- sore throat, dry cough.
Moderate poisoning (develops when the concentration of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood is from 30 to 40%):
- short-term loss or other disturbances of consciousness (stunning, stuporous state or coma);
- difficulty breathing, intense shortness of breath;
- persistent dilation of the pupils, anisocoria (pupils of different sizes);
- hallucinations, delusions;
- tonic or clonic seizures;
- tachycardia, pressing pain in the chest;
- hyperemia skin and visible mucous membranes;
- incoordination;
- visual impairment (decreased visual acuity, flickering spots);
- decreased hearing acuity.
In case of severe poisoning (carboxyhemoglobin concentration 40-50%):
- coma of varying depth and duration (up to several days);
- tonic or clonic convulsions, paralysis, paresis;
- involuntary urination and/or defecation;
- weak thready pulse;
- shallow intermittent breathing;
- cyanosis of the skin and visible mucous membranes.
In addition to the classic manifestations of carbon monoxide poisoning, atypical symptoms may develop in one of the following forms:
- fainting – characterized by a sharp decrease in blood pressure (up to 70/50 mmHg and below) and loss of consciousness;
- euphoric - sharp psychomotor agitation, decreased criticism, disorientation in time and space, hallucinations and delusions are possible;
- fulminant - develops when the concentration of CO in the inhaled air is 1.2% or more, the content of carboxyhemoglobin in the systemic circulation in this case exceeds 75%. The death of the victim occurs quickly, within 2-3 minutes.
Poisoning by combustion products – the main cause (80% of all cases) of deaths in fires. Over 60% of them are due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Let's try to figure it out and remember knowledge from physics and chemistry.
What is carbon monoxide and why is it dangerous?
Carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide, or carbon monoxide, chemical formula CO) is a gaseous compound formed during combustion of any kind. What happens when this substance enters the body?
After entering the respiratory tract, carbon monoxide molecules immediately end up in the blood and bind to hemoglobin molecules. A completely new substance is formed - carboxyhemoglobin, which interferes with the transport of oxygen. For this reason, oxygen deficiency develops very quickly.
The biggest danger– carbon monoxide is invisible and not perceptible in any way, it has neither odor nor color, that is, the cause of the illness is not obvious, it is not always possible to detect it immediately. Carbon monoxide cannot be felt in any way, which is why its second name is the silent killer. Feeling tired, lack of strength and dizzy, a person makes a fatal mistake - he decides to lie down. And, even if he later understands the reason and the need for going out into the air, as a rule, he is no longer able to do anything. Knowledge could save many symptoms of CO poisoning– knowing them, it is possible to suspect the cause of the ailment in time and accept necessary measures to salvation.
Symptoms and signs
The severity of the lesion depends on several factors:
- state of health and physiological characteristics of a person. Weak people, those with chronic diseases, especially those accompanied by anemia, the elderly, pregnant women and children are more sensitive to the effects of CO;
- duration of exposure of the CO compound to the body;
- concentration of carbon monoxide in inspired air;
- physical activity during poisoning. The higher the activity, the faster poisoning occurs.
Severity
(Infographics are available via the download button after the article)
Mild degree severity is characterized by the following symptoms:
- general weakness;
- headaches, mainly in the frontal and temporal regions;
- knocking in the temples;
- tinnitus;
- dizziness;
- visual impairment – flickering, dots before the eyes;
- unproductive, i.e. dry cough;
- rapid breathing;
- lack of air, shortness of breath;
- lacrimation;
- nausea;
- hyperemia (redness) of the skin and mucous membranes;
- tachycardia;
- increased blood pressure.
Symptoms medium degree severity is the preservation of all the symptoms of the previous stage and their more severe form:
- fogginess, possible loss of consciousness for a short time;
- vomit;
- hallucinations, both visual and auditory;
- violation of the vestibular apparatus, uncoordinated movements;
- pressing chest pain.
Severe degree poisoning is characterized by the following symptoms:
- paralysis;
- long-term loss of consciousness, coma;
- convulsions;
- dilated pupils;
- involuntary bowel movement bladder and intestines;
- increased heart rate up to 130 beats per minute, but it is faintly palpable;
- cyanosis (blue discoloration) of the skin and mucous membranes;
- breathing problems – it becomes shallow and intermittent.
Atypical forms
There are two of them - fainting and euphoric.
Symptoms of fainting:
- pallor of the skin and mucous membranes;
- decreased blood pressure;
- loss of consciousness.
Symptoms of the euphoric form:
- psychomotor agitation;
- violation mental functions: delirium, hallucinations, laughter, strange behavior;
- loss of consciousness;
- respiratory and heart failure.
First aid for victims
It is very important to act promptly, as irreversible consequences occur very quickly.
First, it is necessary to take the victim out into fresh air as quickly as possible. In cases where this is difficult, the victim must be put on a gas mask with a hopcalite cartridge as quickly as possible and given an oxygen cushion.
Secondly, you need to make breathing easier - clear the airways, if necessary, unfasten clothes, lay the victim on his side in order to prevent possible tongue retraction.
Thirdly, stimulate breathing. Apply ammonia, rub the chest, warm the limbs.
And most importantly, you need to call ambulance. Even if a person appears to be in satisfactory condition at first glance, it is necessary that he be examined by a doctor, since it is not always possible to determine the true degree of poisoning only by symptoms. In addition, promptly initiated therapeutic measures will reduce the risk of complications and mortality from carbon monoxide poisoning.
If the victim’s condition is serious, it is necessary to carry out resuscitation measures until doctors arrive.
Sources of danger
Nowadays, cases of poisoning occur a little less frequently than in those days when residential heating was predominantly stoves, but there are still plenty of sources of increased risk.
Potential carbon monoxide poisoning hazards:
- houses with stove heating and fireplaces. Improper operation increases the risk of carbon monoxide entering the premises, thus causing entire families to burn out in their homes;
- baths, saunas, especially those that are heated “on black”;
- garages;
- in industries using carbon monoxide;
- long-term stay near major roads;
- fire in a closed space (elevator, shaft, etc., which must be left without outside help impossible).
Only numbers
- A mild degree of poisoning occurs already at a carbon monoxide concentration of 0.08% - headache, dizziness, suffocation, and general weakness occur.
- An increase in CO concentration to 0.32% causes motor paralysis and fainting. After about half an hour, death occurs.
- At a CO concentration of 1.2% or higher, a lightning-fast form of poisoning develops - in a couple of breaths a person gets lethal dose, death occurs within a maximum of 3 minutes.
- In exhaust gases passenger car contains from 1.5 to 3% carbon monoxide. Contrary to popular belief, you can get poisoned while the engine is running not only indoors, but also outdoors.
- About two and a half thousand people in Russia are hospitalized annually with varying degrees of severity of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide) // Harmful substances in industry. Handbook for chemists, engineers and doctors / Ed. N.V. Lazarev and I.D. Gadaskina. - 7th ed. - L.: Chemistry, 1977. - T. 3. - P. 240-253. - 608 p.
Carbon monoxide concentration and symptoms of poisoning
Prevention measures
In order to minimize the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning, it is enough to follow the following rules:
- operate stoves and fireplaces in accordance with the rules, regularly check the operation ventilation system and in a timely manner, and trust the laying of stoves and fireplaces only to professionals;
- not be there long time near busy roads;
- Always turn off the car engine in a closed garage. It only takes five minutes of engine operation for the concentration of carbon monoxide to become lethal - remember this;
- When staying in a car for a long time, and even more so sleeping in a car, always turn off the engine;
- make it a rule - if symptoms arise that suggest carbon monoxide poisoning, provide fresh air as soon as possible by opening the windows, or better yet, leave the room. Do not lie down if you feel dizzy, nauseous, or weak.
Remember - carbon monoxide is insidious, it acts quickly and unnoticed, so life and health depend on the speed of measures taken. Take care of yourself and your loved ones!
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, very light gas (lighter than air) and odorless. But the “smell of carbon monoxide” is felt due to impurities of organic elements in the fuel. Carbon monoxide appears every time you burn wood in your home. The main cause of carbon monoxide is an insufficient amount of oxygen in the combustion area.
The occurrence of waste
Carbon monoxide in the home occurs when carbon is burned due to a lack of oxygen. Combustion of fuel in furnaces occurs in several stages:
- First the carbon burns, releasing carbon dioxide CO2;
- The carbon dioxide then comes into contact with the hot remains of coke or coal, creating carbon monoxide;
- The carbon monoxide then burns (blue flame) to produce carbon dioxide, which escapes through the chimney.
No draft in the stove (the chimney is clogged, there is no combustion supply air, the damper is closed prematurely), the coals continue to smolder without a weak supply of oxygen, so carbon monoxide does not burn and can disperse throughout the heated room, causing a toxic effect on the body and poisoning (carbon fumes).
Factors of carbon dioxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, making it very dangerous. The causes of smoke inhalation poisoning can be:
- Malfunctioning fireplace stove and chimney (clogged chimney, cracks in the stove).
- Violation (closed oven damper untimely, poor traction, insufficient access to the firebox of fresh air).
- The presence of a person at the very source of the fire.
- Car maintenance in a low-ventilated area.
- The use of low-quality air in breathing apparatus and scuba gear.
- Sleeping in a car with the engine running.
- Using a grill with low ventilation.
Signals and signs of poisoning
At a low concentration of gas, the first signs of toxic effects and poisoning may form: lacrimation, dizziness and pain, nausea and weakness, confusion, dry cough, and there may be auditory and visual hallucinations. If you feel the symptoms of poisoning, you need to get out into fresh air as soon as possible.
If you spend a long period of time in a room with a low density of carbon monoxide, symptoms of poisoning occur: tachycardia, difficulty breathing, loss of coordination, drowsiness, visual hallucinations, blue discoloration of the facial skin and mucous membranes, vomiting, loss of consciousness, and there may be convulsions.
With increased concentrations, loss of consciousness and coma with convulsions occur. Without first aid, the victim may die from smoke inhalation.
The effects of carbon monoxide in the home on the human body
Carbon monoxide enters through the lungs, contacts hemoglobin in the blood and prevents the transfer of oxygen to organs and tissues. Oxygen starvation disrupts the nervous system and brain function. The higher the carbon monoxide concentration and the longer the period spent in the room, the stronger poisoning and more likely to die.
After poisoning, medical supervision is required for several days, as complications are often observed. Victims with severe poisoning must be hospitalized. Problems with the nervous system and lungs are possible even weeks after the incident. Interestingly, carbon monoxide affects women less than men.
Carbon monoxide detector for home
Poisoning or carbon inhalation can be prevented by using a self-contained carbon monoxide alarm or sensor. If the volume of carbon monoxide in a residential or technical room goes beyond permissible level, the sensor will signal, warning of a threat. Carbon monoxide detectors are electrochemical sensors designed to continuously monitor the level of CO content in a room and respond with light and sound signals to high level concentrations of carbon monoxide in the air.
When you decide to buy a carbon monoxide alarm for your home, pay attention to the features (if they are similar in appearance) of the devices: sensor open fire and smoke alarm, sensor carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide reacts to different elements in the air of the room. Carbon monoxide detectors for the home are installed at a height of one and a half meters from the floor (some recommend installing 15–20 cm from the ceiling). The carbon dioxide detector should be placed near the instrument panel or at floor level (carbon dioxide is much heavier than air), and the smoke detector should be on the ceiling.
In many countries, the use of the above sensors is prerequisite provided by law to ensure the safety and health of the population. In Europe, only a smoke detector is required. For us, installing a carbon monoxide detector is currently voluntary. Such sensors are generally an inexpensive device, so it is better not to risk your life and buy a carbon monoxide alarm for your home.
How to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning in the house
By following safety rules, smoke inhalation poisoning can be prevented:
— Do not use fuel-burning appliances without sufficient skills, knowledge and tools.
— Don’t burn charcoal in a room with poor ventilation.
— Make sure that the oven, exhaust and supply ventilation and chimney.
— On smoke ducts wood stoves, it is necessary to provide for the installation of 2 tight valves in series, and on the channels of stoves operating on coal or peat, only one valve with a 15 mm hole.
— Do not leave a car in the garage with the engine running.
Sensors that signal an increase in carbon monoxide concentration can additionally protect against poisoning, but they should not replace other preventive work.
Carbon monoxide from stove heating
A fireplace or stove with a closed valve and the remains of unburnt fuel is a source of carbon monoxide and an invisible poisoner. Assuming that the fuel has completely burned, stove owners close the chimney damper to preserve heat. Smoldering embers with a lack of air create carbon monoxide, which penetrates into the room through leaky areas of the furnace system.
Also in the chimney, with weak draft and without air supply, chemical underburning of the fuel occurs, and as a result, the appearance and accumulation of carbon monoxide at home.
The insidious properties of carbon monoxide have been known since ancient times. Our ancestors knew that it was very dangerous to close the draft in an unburned stove while maintaining heat. IN closed house warm, cozy, a person lies down to rest - and does not wake up, he burns out.
The culprit of misfortune wears different names- carbon monoxide (II), carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide, CO.
WHERE IS CARBON MONOXIDE FORMED?
When the draft is closed, it is formed during the oxidation of smoldering embers in conditions of lack of oxygen, and enters the room. People do not notice the invasion - after all, the invader has neither smell nor color. And it acts, first of all, on the central nervous system, and the distraught person is not able to appreciate that something wrong is happening to him.
It would seem that nowadays few people use stoves, and the likelihood of encountering carbon monoxide is low. But it turns out that this substance is released both as a result of human activity and in many natural processes.
Carbon monoxide is formed in almost all types of combustion - when burning fuel at power and heating plants, when burning a fire and a gas stove, in a car exhaust, when smoking. Sources of CO are metallurgy and chemical industry. Carbon monoxide is used as a starting material for the synthesis of acetone, methyl alcohol, urea, etc.
As a result of volcanic activity and the oxidation of methane, carbon monoxide also enters the atmosphere. But the amount of natural carbon monoxide, according to some estimates, is only about 3% of the gas from anthropogenic sources, 90% produced by burning fossil fuels.
One of the sources of carbon monoxide is the person himself.
The fact is that carbon monoxide is a product of normal metabolism - in small concentrations it is necessary for the body and performs in it important functions .
A person exhales up to 10 ml of CO per day. This is important to keep in mind for developers of air purification systems for long stays in enclosed spaces - spaceships, caissons, etc.
Thus, the ubiquitous carbon monoxide can be called everyday poison. Its maximum permissible concentration is in the air production premises is 20 mg/m 3 or 0.02 mg/l. The natural level of CO in the air is 0.01 - 0.9 mg/m3, and on Russian highways the average CO concentration ranges from 6-57 mg/m3, exceeding the poisoning threshold.
The main "supplier" of carbon monoxide in major cities is motor transport. When burning 1000 liters of fuel, vehicles emit 25 to 200 kg of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. For example, 72-75% of all carbon monoxide enters the atmosphere of Moscow through the fault of cars.
Unfortunately, cases of poisoning in closed garages are not uncommon.
Under no circumstances should you start and warm up the engine in a closed, unventilated room!
WHERE DOES CARBON MONOXIDE ACCUMULATE?
Carbon monoxide can accumulate in dangerous concentrations not only in the garage. In 1982, hundreds of Afghan and Soviet soldiers died on the Salang pass due to an accident in a mountain tunnel more than four kilometers long. Due to the snowfall, many cars were piled up on both sides. Two cars collided in the center of the tunnel, causing a traffic jam. The drivers did not turn off the engines, the concentration of carbon monoxide increased, people lost consciousness and died.
The slower a car moves on the streets, the longer it sits with the engine running, or crawls at a snail's pace in a traffic jam, the more carbon monoxide it emits. And carbon monoxide is one of the main air pollutants in large cities. Therefore, the cleanliness of the air in big cities has a lot to do with how the movement is organized. And, of course, the awareness of drivers is important
If you have to stand at a traffic light or crossing for several minutes, turn off the engine.
You will save gasoline and the air will be cleaner. And you don’t need to warm up the engine by pointing the exhaust pipe at your neighbor’s window. Moreover, the engines of most modern cars do not need to be warmed up at all.
Carbon monoxide accumulates in poorly ventilated yards and near highways. Therefore, the concentration of carbon monoxide in the blood of residents of large cities is higher than that of residents of rural areas. If possible, avoid walking along busy highways, especially with children. Choose a quiet nearby street, or better yet a park. This is especially important if you are engaged in vigorous activity that requires increased energy expenditure and, therefore, more intense breathing - cycling, rollerblading, jogging or skiing.
Such physical exercises near the highway will only bring harm.
However, for some, this carbon monoxide lurking around us everywhere is not enough - and they “catch up” with the help tobacco smoke. A smoker inhales 18.4 mg of CO when smoking one cigarette. If so much carbon monoxide entered the body at one time, he could die. Fortunately, some of the CO leaves the body through exhalation. The concentration of carbon monoxide in the blood of a smoker in 40 times exceeds the norm!
Passive smoking is also slightly less dangerous. In an hour in a smoky room, a person inhales about 9 mg of CO2 - this is what he would get if he smoked half a cigarette himself. This is especially important to remember for parents who smoke in the presence of their children.
IMPACT ON THE BODY
How does carbon monoxide affect the body? Getting into the lungs and from there into the blood plasma, CO penetrates into red blood cells and there interacts with the protein hemoglobin - the carrier of oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. Each hemoglobin molecule contains four heme - porphyrin rings, in the center of which there is an iron atom that can reversibly attach an oxygen molecule, forming the so-called oxyhemoglobin. Thanks to hemoglobin, blood can bring about 70 times more oxygen to tissues than salt water would carry through dissolution alone.
It is the iron atom that carbon monoxide targets, forming a complex compound (carboxyhemoglobin) that is unable to carry oxygen.
In competition for hemoglobin, carbon monoxide has a distinct advantage over oxygen - it reacts faster with hemoglobin and forms a stronger compound than oxyhemoglobin. In addition, the dissociation of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood occurs very slowly, and it gradually accumulates. Therefore, the concentration of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood can increase to a dangerous degree when inhaling for a long time air containing carbon monoxide in very small concentrations - as little as 0.07%. The blood loses its ability to carry oxygen to the tissues, and symptoms of acute oxygen deficiency appear.
Visible signs of poisoning appear when the carboxyhemoglobin content relative to the total hemoglobin content in the blood exceeds 20%. At 30%, dizziness, weakness in the legs, decreased visual acuity appear, at 40-50%, clouding of consciousness, 60-70% carboxyhemoglobin content leads to death. The higher the concentration of carbon monoxide in the air, the faster the dangerous concentration of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood is reached. For example, inhaling air containing 0.1% carbon monoxide leads to a 40% level of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood in less than 3 hours if the person is at rest. And if he is busy with hard work, the lungs are actively ventilated, and the formation of carboxyhemoglobin occurs faster - the same level.
When small amounts of carbon monoxide are exposed to the body over a long period of time, carboxyhemoglobin is constantly present in the blood. Clear signs poisoning is not observed at a carboxyhemoglobin concentration of 2-10%, but such people often complain of headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, irritability, bad dream, pain in the heart area, weakening of memory and attention. Symptoms familiar to many residents of big cities. And city residents who smoke make the situation even worse.
HOW TO HELP SOMEONE POISONED BY CARBON MONOXIDE
How can you help a person poisoned by carbon monoxide? First of all, it is necessary to help the blood get rid of carboxyhemoglobin as quickly as possible, to shift the balance towards the formation of a compound of hemoglobin with oxygen. And to do this, even before the ambulance team arrives, take (or carry) the victim out into the fresh air.
An increase in oxygen concentration in the air accelerates the removal of carboxyhemoglobin from the blood. Doctors, for example, give the victim to breathe pure oxygen or, if possible, oxygen under pressure in a pressure chamber, stimulating his breathing with medication or using artificial respiration methods. There are others in the doctors' arsenal medications combating carbon monoxide poisoning, for example, iron compounds “intercepting” CO from hemoglobin, accelerating its removal from the body.
How longer body is in conditions of tissue oxygen starvation, the more severe its consequences, primarily for the heart muscle and brain. Therefore, cure of immediate syndromes of severe poisoning does not mean complete recovery. Damage to the neurons of the cerebral cortex often occurs; in 7 cases out of 10 after poisoning, mental disorders, loss of immediate memory, and personality changes may appear within 3 months.
Let's sum it up: What should you do to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning? First of all, follow basic safety rules when firing stoves, do not keep a car with the engine running in a closed space, and ventilate kitchens equipped with gas stoves as often as possible. Visit as much as possible fresh air, avoiding walking on busy highways, especially near traffic jams. Do not miss any opportunity to visit the countryside, trying to increase your exposure to the fresh air whenever possible. physical activity to actively “breathe.” And, of course, do not smoke and do not allow smoking near you. And then the insidious carbon monoxide will not be scary.
