HAMPTON, Va. — Hampton police said Tuesday a case of possible carbon monoxide poisoning in September has been traced to a car unintentionally left running in a home garage.
News 3 first told you about the possible poisoning when it happened. It’s a reminder of the danger of having carbon monoxide in a home, something that can happen more often as people begin to turn on heaters and have fires in their fireplaces.
Whether your heater has kicked on or you’re still using your AC like the person who lives at the home where News 3 met senior service technician John Nottingham, he said getting your system checked at least once a year will help keep you safe.
Watch: Nine shipyard workers treated for possible carbon monoxide exposure: HII
“The inside system, it’s a gas furnace. So, flames," Nottingham said. "With that, we’ll be checking the flu pipe, the exhaust pipe, and the heat exchange.”
On September 21, Hampton firefighters went to a home on Kenilworth Dr. for a report of a gas leak and found one person dead inside. Two other people were taken to a hospital to be treated for possible carbon monoxide poisoning.
“You can breathe in carbon monoxide for a really long time and not realize it’s happening," said Sentara Chief Medical Officer for Primary Care Dr. Robin Anderson.
Watch: Kids died of carbon monoxide poisoning in Detroit parking garage incident
Anderson said carbon monoxide essentially slowly suffocates you by replacing the oxygen in your blood with carbon monoxide.
According to the CDC, every year more than 400 Americans die from unintentional CO poisoning not related to a fire. CO poisoning also sends more than 100,000 people to an emergency department and causes more than 14,000 to be hospitalized each year.
“The symptoms can be very non-specific. Headaches, dizziness, many times no symptoms until it gets to the point where it can be life-threatening," Anderson explained.
Whether you’re actually suffering from CO poisoning or something else, like the flu, depends on if you have any indication it may be CO poisoning.
“Then, it’s a matter of working with your physician or health care provider to say, ‘Okay. Does this make sense? Does it act like the flu? Are you having other things that would typically go along with the clod or flu'" said Anderson.
Having a CO detector in your home can be one indication. If it goes off, get outside to fresh air and call 911.
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