CO and cardio-toxicity

Reuters news agency have a story based on a paper in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine which looks at the cardio-toxicity of CO in rats.
Also mentioned is an earlier paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association which examines long term morbidity and mortality in those exposed non-lethally to carbon monoxide. You can get a free pdf file of this paper from the JAMA website by clicking here.

On-line module from the CEM

I have written an on-line teaching module on the presentation and treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning. This is under the auspices of the College of Emergency Medicine, and should be available through the doctors.net.uk website in the very near future - hopefully before the end of April.

Parliamentary news

The All Party Parliamentary Gas Safety Group meets at the House of Commons on April 23rd. I have been invited to inform them of efforts being made to ensure the highest possible level of awareness and education is being achieved and maintained among the medical community.

Another fatality...

Another probable CO-related death, in London, as reported this morning on the BBC News website.
The BBC call it a 'carbon monoxide leak', which is unusual terminology.

Historical aspects

One of my particular interests is in the history of carbon monoxide poisoning. I have quite a collection of old (some very old) medical research - a lot of it still very relevant to today.
I am planning to make a lot of this accessible through this site. To start with, clicking on this link will allow you to download a copy of a publication from 1970, in the Postgraduate Medical Journal. Medics from Newcastle describe their experiences of carbon monoxide over a three-year period. This was during a period when coal gas was piped into people's homes. The figures they cite are pretty amazing!

Thinking of getting a CO alarm?

Well, that means you haven't already got one, which is NOT good, but at least you're going to get one.
Get one today.
Get one that sounds an audible alarm, and that has the British Standard ('Kitemark') EN50291.
Better still, get one that has a digital display/readout, and also records peak levels.
One per household is an absolute minimum - one per flame-producing appliance (so one for every fire, boiler, cooker etc. in the house) is the ideal.
Consult the instructions that come with your alarm for the best place to fit it.

CO-Awareness Week 2007

As medical advisor to CO-Awareness, I am very pleased to be associated with the launch of the CO-Awareness week.
The week began with a seminar at the House of Lords on Monday October 15th. The meeting was chaired by Barry Sheerman MP, along with Lord McKenzie from the Department for Work and Pensions.
On Friday October 19th the CO-Awareness roadshow hits Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. From 10am we will be at Dewsbury Town Hall with information and discussion around carbon monoxide.
Details on the venue can be found by clicking here.
According to the recent CORGI Report, people in the Yorkshire region are at greatest risk from accidental CO exposure in the home.