Carbon Monoxide, The Killer At Home

Carbon monoxide poisoning is the most common accidental poisoning in the United States.

The Early Show medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay discusses this threat that accounts for hundreds of deaths and thousands of hospitalizations each year.

Carbon monoxide is a deadly gas. It is colorless and odorless so it can easily sneak up on you without warning and if it does, it's bad news. Carbon monoxide inhaled in large amounts quickly shuts down the body's ability to absorb oxygen. This damages the brain and the heart and can also lead to death.

Carbon monoxide gas is formed as a byproduct of combustion or burning.

Carbon Monoxide Sources Include: Highly toxic amounts are produced by car engines, heaters that burn any type of fuel, and by fires in general. Most of the time, the deadly fumes are dispersed into the air without causing serious harm. Carbon monoxide becomes dangerous when it builds up in enclosed spaces.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Symptoms: If a person has been close to a source of carbon monoxide in a poorly-ventilated area, they may exhibit some warning signs. Symptoms can include nausea, fatigue, headache, dizziness, burning eyes, confusion and unconsciousness. Kids and infants are at a greater risk because their smaller bodies metabolize the gas quicker.

Getting Diagnosed: A blood test to measure carbon monoxide levels is the only way to be completely sure, because the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning easily can be confused with other ailments like the flu, which is common in the colder months when people are also more likely to be at risk from carbon monoxide from the use of heaters in enclosed spaces.

Precautions: Make sure you maintain proper care of furnaces, fireplaces and make sure you have proper ventilation. Get a carbon monoxide detector. There's really no other way to tell if carbon monoxide is present since you can't see or smell the gas. Every household should have one, but only about a quarter of American homes currently have them installed, which means there are 74 million unprotected households.

Treating Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: The best way to treat carbon monoxide poisoning is to replace the oxygen that the body has been deprived of as quickly as possible to try to prevent damage to the brain. That can either be delivered with a traditional facemask, or by putting the patient into a large pressurized oxygenated chamber known as hyper-baric oxygen therapy, the same chamber used to revive divers who suffer from the bends. Treatment is needed immediately after severe carbon monoxide poisoning to help avoid cognitive problems caused by lack of oxygen to the brain.