by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

There are always scary stories about carbon monoxide deaths this time of year.  It can happen any time, but in the winter, people have the heat on and the house sealed.

A family of four were guests in an Aspen, Colorado, mansion recently and died in the night.  I remember a famous tennis player died a few years ago staying in someone’s guest room.  Carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas, does not discriminate against any social class.  It can affect anyone.  In fact, a draft or two in an old house might help a little to ventilate it out.

Carbon monoxide is a product of carbon fuel combustion from things like fireplaces, heaters, exhaust fumes, pollution or volcano eruptions.  The modern day poisoning usually comes when you combine an inefficient or malfunctioning heat source with a relatively sealed space.  It’s popular way to commit suicide, with 2,000 deaths per year from breathing exhaust fumes in a closed garage.

And then there are the accidental exposures.

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