Beware, it doesn’t take a running car in a closed garage to deliver enough carbon monoxide to poison a person. Low levels, once thought insignificant, of the invisible, odorless gas may be causing considerable brain and heart damage in countless unsuspecting people, reports the BALTIMORE SUN.
Symptoms commonly written off as stress, such as headaches, mood changes, forgetfulness, and fatigue can indicate carbon-monoxide poisoning. The gas may come from old furnaces, gas stoves, or car exhaust, and illness can be caused by extremely low concentrations. Victims can be anywhere — cities, suburbs, or rural areas — and often go months without realizing something’s wrong.
Further studies are ongoing, but, says a pharmocologist from the Connecticut Poison Control Center, “I feel it is a much larger public health problem than anyone has any concept of at present.”
