Another Michigan Hotel Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

After some patrons of the hotel reported a lightheaded feeling, the employees and patrons numbering 60 were evacuated to avoid tragedy in another Michigan hotel carbon monoxide poisoning, according to Click on Detroit. Investigators determined that the pool heater was the culprit in this carbon monoxide poisoning. They also checked the elevator shaft for carbon monoxide levels, but determined it was in fact the pool heater.

The facts of this case seem eerily similar to a story earlier this month: https://carbonmonoxide.com/2017/04/niles-hotel-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-leaves-one-dead.html. This story was at a hotel. It was a carbon monoxide poisoning. The source was a pool heater. In this case, the ending was far more tragic. The people poisoned were children, and one child actually died.

Another hotel carbon monoxide poisoning story took place in Boone, North Carolina. An older couple died in a room that was located above a mechanical room that included the pool heater. This wasn’t the first death either. An 11-year-old boy died earlier that year in the same room. You would think that would be the warning/wake up call necessary to install carbon monoxide detectors near the room or fix the pool heater. Read more about the story here: http://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/state-investigators-pool-area-boone-hotel-where-3-/334955293

This case in the Michigan hotel carbon monoxide poisoning did not result in a death. Hopefully, this is a sign that people are starting to become more aware of the signs and symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. That is one way to protect yourself from the deadly gas. Other ways include installing carbon monoxide detectors where the people are, and also making sure equipment is maintained and serviced regularly.

Carbon monoxide poisoning can manifest itself in different ways. Sometimes people with heart conditions will experience sharp chest pains. Other times, it mimics the flu or food poisoning: lightheadedness, nausea, perhaps vomiting, confusion. If you feel sick and suspect carbon monoxide poisoning, get to fresh air immediately and call for help. If you are not feeling sick, but suspect carbon monoxide poisoning, make sure you open windows and ventilate the area. You might also call (800) 222-1222, American Association of Poison Control Centers, available 24 hours every day. But if you do start to feel sick, get to fresh air immediately and call for help. High levels of carbon monoxide can overcome you in minutes.

When you seek medical attention, the doctors will probably take your carboxyhemoglobin levels. This will tell you how much carbon monoxide is in your blood. Carbon monoxide displaces oxygen in the blood. Hemoglobin is the protein that carries oxygen around, but carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin with 200 times the affinity of oxygen. The doctors might also put you on 100 percent oxygen. You may be placed on either normobaric or hyperbaric oxygen. Normobaric is “normal” pressure levels. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is usually reserved for people with the highest levels of carbon monoxide in the blood. However, this treatment is most effective in reducing cognitive problems after the poisoning. This treatment actually affects patients in this way, regardless of severity of poisoning. Hyperbaric oxygen is the best known treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning. Other treatments that will hopefully prevent or treat the brain injury that can be caused by carbon monoxide poisoning will hopefully be explored further and regulated so it can be brought to market.