CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING; SCOTT COUNTY WOMAN OVERCOMES `SILENT KILLER'

Karen kept getting sicker. She didn't know why.

She and her husband moved into a rented home in Scott County Halloween weekend.

Within two weeks, she started feeling ill.

"I was having a lot of headaches. I was extremely tired and crabby. It was all I could do to keep going. All I wanted to do was sleep," recalled Karen, who would only talk on the condition of anonymity.

She had chest pains. "I thought maybe it was heartburn."

On Dec. 4, she felt so bad she left her office job to return home.

"The pains were really bad. I just couldn't breathe," recalled Karen.

Her husband, a volunteer firefighter, subsequently drove her to the hospital. She passed out en route to St. Francis Medical Center.

"I completely blacked out," remembered Karen.

In the emergency room, they checked her lungs and performed other tests.

"I was having problems with my blood pressure."

Emergency room personnel couldn't pinpoint the problem. "They gave me some medicine to try and ease the pain and then sent me home," she said.

The next day, her family doctor told her she was suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.

He advised her to have the gas company check her home and office for carbon monoxide leaks.

An Associated Natural Gas employee went through the home with a monitoring device. He discovered the gas furnace was leaking carbon monoxide.

"The fresh air return wasn't working," Karen said.

The result was a slow leak of carbon monoxide. "It kept building and building and that is why I kept getting sicker and sicker until finally it really hit me."

The gas furnace has been repaired. Karen and her husband now have a carbon monoxide detector in their home.

Karen's bout of carbon monoxide poisoning left her weak. She ended up with bronchitis and pneumonia.

It wasn't until this month that she returned to work full time.

Carbon monoxide is the leading cause of death from poisoning in the United States. It is absorbed into the body through the lungs and leads to less oxygen in the bloodstream.

It has been called the "silent killer" because the gas is colorless and odorless.

The American Medical Association says accidental exposure to carbon monoxide in the home is responsible for about 1,500 deaths annually and causes another 10,000 to seek medical attention.

The St. Louis public schools decided to install carbon monoxide detectors in all 105 public schools after more than 130 children and adults became sick earlier this month from a carbon monoxide leak at a magnet school.

The leak occurred when a heating system malfunctioned. None of the children or adults became seriously ill.

Carbon monoxide poisoning from faulty heating and cooking appliances annually kills about 300 people nationwide.

Medical experts estimate that one-third of all cases of carbon monoxide poisoning go undetected.

But Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Robert Ridgeway said his department receives few calls dealing with carbon monoxide leaks in homes.

Ridgeway said faulty gas furnaces, wood-burning stoves and kerosene heaters can leak carbon monoxide. Automobile exhaust is another source of the deadly gas.

Carbon monoxide is a byproduct of combustion.

"It is a very, very simple thing to control," he said. "If you have a furnace, you should get it cleaned and checked every year before the heating season."

There are carbon monoxide detectors on the market, typically costing around $40. Similar to smoke detectors, they sound an alarm.

But Ridgeway said many of the detectors are too sensitive. "Right now, they are quite susceptible to false alarms."

Newer and better detectors are expected on the market later this year, Ridgeway said.

In the meantime, he advised consumers to delay purchasing detectors until the new ones come on the market.