Every year, hundreds of people die in their homes as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning accidents due to misuse or malfunctioning heating appliances. How to avoid danger? What you need to know about carbon monoxide?
Carbon monoxide, or carbon monoxide, or carbon monoxide (CO), is often called the “silent killer.” The main problem is that it has no color, no taste, no smell, and does not cause any sensation at all (until it is too late). In this case, the gas spreads quickly, mixing with the air without losing its toxic properties.
Health effects
Carbon monoxide poisoning is an acute pathological condition that develops as a result of carbon monoxide entering the human body, is dangerous to life and health, and without qualified medical care can be fatal.
Carbon monoxide enters the blood through the lungs and combines with hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the red part of blood that carries oxygen. Although carbon monoxide enters the bloodstream in the same way as oxygen, the poisonous gas combines with hemoglobin 210 times faster than oxygen. This means that although there may be plenty of oxygen in the surrounding atmosphere, carbon monoxide will be the first to enter the bloodstream. High concentrations of carbon monoxide in the blood will prevent sufficient oxygen from reaching the heart and brain. This can lead to suffocation, capillary hemorrhage, permanent damage to nerve tissue and brain cells, and even death.
- When the inhaled air contains 0.08% CO, a person feels a headache and suffocation.
- When the CO concentration increases to 0.32%, paralysis and loss of consciousness occurs (death occurs within 30 minutes).
- At concentrations above 1.2%, consciousness is lost after two to three breaths, and the person dies in less than 3 minutes. This is what often happens during fires.
Brief characteristics of methane
Methane is the most common odorless/colorless gas used in everyday life.
During combustion it has a bluish flame. Under certain situations the air ratio may explode. Domestic gas poisoning occurs when an injured person inhales air that contains about twenty-one percent oxygen and thirty percent methane. This ratio is dangerous and causes poisoning, accompanied by painful signs, consequences and symptoms.
The effects of methane are similar to the most powerful narcotic substances, which provoke oxygen starvation, cause damage to the central nervous system, as well as depression of respiratory function. If timely degassing of the affected premises is not carried out, intoxication of the body develops and death is possible.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning
The initial symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are difficult to distinguish from other possible causes. Low exposure may cause headache, dizziness, drowsiness, or nausea. Stronger exposure will worsen preliminary symptoms and may be accompanied by increased heart rate, confusion, loss of coordination, or collapse. Finally, high exposure can lead to seizures, coma or death. A surviving victim who recovers may suffer permanent damage to the brain or nerve tissue, leaving him disabled for life.
Sudden exposure to high levels can kill in just a few minutes. During World War II in Italy, more than 500 people were killed almost instantly when their overloaded train became stuck in a steep, icy tunnel and toxic gas from burning coal suffocated them.
The long-term effects of low-level exposure are uncertain. Pregnant women may face a particular danger - defects of the nervous system in newborns.
People with heart problems, anemia, asthma or respiratory problems may be more affected than others by exposure to carbon monoxide.
In case of mild poisoning the following appear:
- headache,
- knocking in the temples,
- dizziness,
- chest pain,
- dry cough,
- lacrimation,
- nausea, vomiting,
- visual and auditory hallucinations are possible,
- redness of the skin, carmine-red coloring of the mucous membranes,
- tachycardia,
- increased blood pressure.
in case of moderate poisoning:
- severe tinnitus
- drowsiness,
- possible motor paralysis with preserved consciousness
in case of severe poisoning:
- loss of consciousness, coma
- convulsions,
- breathing disorder that becomes continuous, sometimes Cheyne-Stokes type,
- dilated pupils with weakened reaction to light,
- sharp cyanosis (blue discoloration) of the mucous membranes and facial skin. Death usually occurs at the scene as a result of respiratory arrest and a drop in cardiac activity.
Classification of poisonous gases
Poisonous gases should be ranked according to two basic criteria: practical application and nature of action. The first group includes:
- CWA (chemical warfare agents). We are talking about hydrocyanic acid, cyanogen chloride, phosgene, mustard gas, sarin and phosphorus compounds,
- substances used for domestic and industrial purposes (chlorine, ammonia),
- by-products of chemical reactions (hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides).
Among the most dangerous gases for humans are representatives of various groups. BWs are the most poisonous: their main goal is to defeat enemy troops. At the moment they are prohibited for use during combat operations.
The toxicity of a component can manifest itself in different ways. Depending on the principle of action, gases can be divided into:
- nerve agents (VX, carbon monoxide, sarin),
- vesicants (mustard gas),
- asphyxiants (chlorine, phosgene),
- tear (chloroacetophenone),
- psychotomimetic (BZ),
- affecting mucous membranes (adamsite),
- complexly toxic (hydrocyanic acid).
There are representatives that have a multifactorial negative impact on the human body.
Where does carbon monoxide come from?
Carbon monoxide enters the atmospheric air during any type of combustion. When any fuel is burned, such as gas, oil, kerosene, wood or coal, carbon monoxide is released. The “leader” in terms of the amount of carbon monoxide released during combustion is coal. Typically, dangerous gas is discharged outside through the chimney or pipe of a gas boiler and does not pose a danger to people. But only if the heating system is working correctly. Cases of carbon monoxide poisoning in apartments where gas water heaters are located, alas, are also recorded.
Poisoning can also occur from exhaust gases from internal combustion engines in cars. It is dangerous to leave a running engine in a garage or sleep inside while the engine is running.
How to avoid getting hurt while helping a gas victim?
When rescuing a person who is in a room filled with gas, you yourself need to take certain precautions. You cannot engage in rescue on your own, since by entering such a room, you yourself can become intoxicated and lose consciousness. To avoid consequences, tie yourself with a rope, the end of which you leave to someone who will control the process from the outside. In case of problems with your health, he will be able to pull you out. Constantly monitor your own health to prevent poisoning.
Important! When rescuing a gas leak victim, take care of your own safety.
Follow fire safety precautions in a room with a gas leak, which consists of the following rules:
- do not smoke,
- don't turn on the light
- do not use electrical appliances,
- Do not light matches or start a fire.
The slightest contact of gas with a spark will lead to an explosion.
Why do poisonings happen in modern apartments?
In the old days, stove heating was used everywhere. People often burned out in their homes. Mainly because the stoves or chimneys were cracked, or because, to conserve heat, the damper in the chimney was closed too early, when the wood had not yet completely burned out. But then everyone, young and old, knew how to use the stove. Accidents happened due to one's own carelessness.
Nowadays, very often tragedies occur from basic ignorance. I want a fireplace in the house - please let us make it! If you want a traditional grandfather’s stove at the dacha or a heater in the bathhouse - no problem, there are many valuable instructions on the Internet on how to build it yourself! But people do not always understand the nature of the operation of such heating; they have no idea about the physical and chemical processes occurring in the furnace. And they don’t even realize that carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless. There is no smoke pouring into the room - that means everything is in order!
Geysers, especially older designs, can also leak carbon monoxide into the room. Sometimes there is very little of it, but in a tiny bathroom, for example, the concentration can increase to dangerous levels. Carbon monoxide levels can rise so quickly that the victim will lose consciousness before they can get help. And losing consciousness in a bathtub filled with water is deadly.
In city apartments, poisoning occurs just during the off-season: the central heating is not turned on, and residents escape from dampness and cold by using gas stoves or ovens. With insufficient ventilation, even such “safe” devices sometimes become the cause of tragedies.
The situation is even more complicated in apartment buildings with common ventilation shafts. Carbon monoxide from one apartment can travel through the ventilation to neighbors. There are known cases when “craftsmen”, in the process of renovating their own apartment, blocked the ventilation shafts of the entire block. One of the residents turned on the stove or gas oven for heating all night - carbon monoxide was in all the apartments in the neighborhood.
Another problem is an incorrectly installed kitchen hood in combination with an old gas water heater. Sometimes the hood above the stove is so powerful that when it operates, a reverse draft is formed - the combustion products from the column are not removed outside, but are drawn inward. Modern gas boilers are quite safe.
Intestinal gases as a cause of spontaneous combustion in humans
Flatulence affects about 30% of the total population. It is typical that during flatulence, gases are released 300 times a day, which is 20 times more often than normal. (M. Lewitt).
At the beginning of the third millennium, in an age of unprecedented advances in science and technology, man is still faced with miracles. But now, unlike his predecessors, he increasingly asks the question: why? Science provides the answer. She persistently dispels the “fog of secrecy.” More recently, researchers have solved the mystery of two more phenomena.
On January 5, 1996, during a treatment session at the barocenter of the St. Petersburg Pediatric Academy, 12-year-old Sasha Chekeres burned alive in a pressure chamber. The criminal case into this tragic incident was dropped due to the fact that four months after the tragedy, the remains of a lighter, which the boy allegedly carried with him, were allegedly found at the scene of the incident.
In recent years, similar fires in single-person medical pressure chambers have occurred in other cities: Minsk, Rostov-on-Don, Barnaul, Yekaterinburg, Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk. In some cases, nothing is known about the causes of fires in such pressure chambers, since investigative experiments were not carried out. What was the cause of the fires?
Lurking danger
In Russia, 99% of medical institutions are equipped with single-place medical pressure chambers, which are unsafe to use because the pressure increases with medical oxygen. Fires in them occur violently, like a slow explosion, with a rapid increase in pressure and temperature (up to 1400 ° C). In multi-place pressure chambers, which are filled not with oxygen, but with air, the likelihood of a fire is lower. And even if this happened, some victims managed to escape (albeit with body burns and poisoning from combustion products).
There are many causes of fire in pressure chambers: flammable items (lighters, matches, transistors, etc.); static electricity; clothing that accumulates an electric charge (nylon, nylon, etc.); even cotton fabric washed many times can spontaneously ignite; cosmetics; some intercoms.
In “silent” cases of fires in a pressure chamber filled with oxygen, intestinal gases, abundantly released from patients, may be to blame. This version was put forward by Vladimir Ivanovich Tyurin, an employee of the Military Medical Academy, Candidate of Medical Sciences.
Explosive mixtures inside a person
What could be burning there, you ask? Not only burn, but also explode! American flatologists (doctors who study the formation of intestinal gases in various parts of the intestine, their composition, volume and frequency of release) determined that these gases contain approximately 60% nitrogen, 5% oxygen, 15% carbon dioxide and 20% hydrogen. And hydrogen sulfide, methane, carbon monoxide, and mercaptan also “wander” inside us. All this either burns well or explodes when combined in certain proportions with oxygen.
Researchers have even found out which parts of the intestine produce which gases. To do this, 11 volunteers were given three tubes (into the stomach through the mouth and into the intestines through the anus) for 14 days. Well, they probably suffered too much. But now a lot is known.
It turns out that when an average lunch is digested, almost 15 liters of gases are formed! True, only a few percent of them come out with farts, and the rest penetrates the intestinal walls into the blood and is excreted through the lungs.
Normally, the amount of intestinal gases is small - 0.9-1.0 l. With flatulence (bloating), this volume increases to 5-10 liters, due to flammable and explosive gases - hydrogen and methane. There are even cases of inflammation and explosions of intestinal gases during operations and complex medical procedures.
It is possible that an explosive mixture is formed under the patient’s blanket in the pressure chamber.
As you know, oxygen barotherapy is prescribed to sick people. This nonspecific method treats many serious diseases: gas gangrene, extensive burns, sepsis, heart and vascular diseases, psoriasis, periodontal disease, gastrointestinal disorders and much more.
Thus, patients in a pressure chamber emit flammable gases not only from the intestines, but also when breathing.
"Fresh breath"
Since the time of Hippocrates, doctors have been able to identify diseases by the smell of exhaled air. In patients with diabetes, the exhalation “smells” of acetone, in case of severe liver damage a fishy odor emanates, in case of renal failure the mouth “pulls” urine, and in case of a lung abscess a putrid stench is emitted.
Breath analysis was first carried out in 1784 by Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (who discovered the role of oxygen in combustion) and the French mathematician Pierre Laplace. They did this on a guinea pig and found that the animal inhales oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide. Other volatile components of exhaled air have been discovered only since the mid-19th century.
In 1971, there were 250 known volatile organic compounds in exhaled air, and currently there are about 400 of them, including flammable methane and hydrogen. Dangerous fun
Some people use the burning properties of intestinal gases for entertainment. This is often shown in youth comedies. A certain Michael Lewitt set fire to his waste gases with a burning torch. Sometimes the flame length reached 25 cm or more.
And a few years ago, the Irish newspaper The Irish Times, in an article entitled “Gone with the Wind,” spoke about the serious consequences of such entertainment. One of the farmers in County Offaly decided to make a joke and released gases onto a lit match to trace their trajectory while in a cowshed. And he didn’t calculate: the trajectory turned out to be so great that the fire, under the pressure of intestinal gases (which can burst out at a speed of 0.1 to 1.1 m/s), reached a haystack. And after a few minutes everything burned down.
It’s better to have “harmless” fun following the example of rock and roll star Rod Stewart. Together with his wife, supermodel Rachel Hunter, he indulges in his favorite pastime and even competes with her, betting big money on who can fire the loudest “burst of charges.” The biggest nuisance for outsiders is the spoiled air.
"Heavenly Voice"
But is the release of gases in a pressure chamber really that dangerous, the reader may doubt?
According to foreign and domestic researchers, about 30% of the entire population suffers from flatulence, while gases are released almost 300 times a day (20 times more often than normal). It is estimated that during flatulence, people pass gas 12-13 times per hour, with the volume of each “charge” being 40 ml or more.
Flatulence often occurs after operations. To reduce it, patients are sometimes placed in a single medical pressure chamber. With increased pressure, the patient's stomach drops, intestinal motility is restored, and intestinal gases begin to escape. Surgeons call this the “heavenly voice.” This “voice” manifests itself especially strongly when the pressure in the pressure chamber decreases. This is where spontaneous combustion of the released methane, hydrogen sulfide or detonating gas can occur.
The potential for a fire or explosion in the pressure chamber due to the accumulation of intestinal gases has been substantiated by experts. However, not everyone finds this reason convincing. In the event of a hyperbaric chamber fire at the Pediatric Academy of St. Petersburg, the commission examining this incident did not consider it necessary to mention intestinal gases among the probable causes of the tragedy.
Astronauts burned in oxygen
In 1971, a Soviet cosmonaut died on Earth in a fire in a soundproofing chamber filled with pure oxygen (under a pressure of 259 mm Hg). When oxygen burns, the temperature rises very quickly, even lead wires and stainless steel melt.
In 1977, in the USA, three astronauts burned to death in the cabin of a spacecraft, also filled with pure oxygen (at a pressure of 270 mm Hg). After this, in order to increase fire safety, the Americans began to use a nitrogen-oxygen mixture (69% nitrogen and 31% oxygen) in spacecraft, and only compressed air in pressure chambers.
And in Italy, due to the danger of fires, they completely abandoned the use of single-place medical pressure chambers.
But is it dangerous to “shoot intestinal charges” in space? After all, when a gas stream flows from the astronaut’s anus, jet thrust is created. At what speed does such a jet allow movement inside and outside the ship?
One of the Russian cosmonauts who went into outer space said that this problem is not relevant. The force of the released jet is less than the total impulse of the thrust of one's own breathing. A serious problem that even dissertations are devoted to is the blanket air that each of us breathes.
(Much more problems when working in space are caused by the beating of the heart: in zero gravity, the body vibrates due to its impacts. This prevents astronauts from working on ultra-precise optical instruments. They have to fix the body in order to accurately “aim” at the crosspiece of the device.)
It turns out that it’s safe to blow gases in space, you won’t even hit your head.
By the way, a person “salutes” from the intestines on average 8 times a day, that is, 2900 times a year, and over the course of a lifetime, a man releases a burst of gases of 209 thousand charges, and a woman – 232 thousand. Plus it makes a noise effect!
Dangerous occupation
It turns out that the “heavenly voice” (as surgeons call this phenomenon) sometimes has more than serious and tragic consequences. Los Angeles researcher Jim Dawson published an entire book, Who Cut the Cheese, dedicated to the "cultural history of farting." Some excerpts from it indicate the severity of the problem.
For example, a single “blank shot” cost the lives of 10 thousand people in the 1st century AD. A Roman soldier decided to express his contempt for the Jews and loudly released gases in the presence of a crowd of thousands. The people were outraged and staged a riot, during which many innocent people died.
“Pour me a drink!”
In 1998, during one of the fires in the Vyborg district of St. Petersburg, two firefighters admitted that in their practice they had encountered unexplained cases of spontaneous combustion of people. Official reports only record cases of fires and casualties. Spontaneous combustion of people, if it occurs, is counted as a casualty, without specifying the cause.
The fire tamers refused to give names: the authorities do not like extraneous conversations at the sites.
About three years ago, Nikolai was on call in a communal apartment in the Vyborg district. Neighbors called the fire department when smoke and a strong burning smell came from the drunkard’s room. Arriving firefighters broke down the door and saw a completely drunk, burned man on the floor. His body had terrible burns and was charred in places. The clothing has been preserved in fragments. When they began to lift him, the man woke up and began to ask: “Pour me a drink!” Then he died. What’s surprising: except for him, nothing burned in the room. Even if he had set himself on fire, the furniture would have caught fire, but here everything remained intact.
One acquaintance who recently worked in the fire department heard about a similar case from colleagues from the Nevsky district. From time to time, reports appear in the press about people burning from the inside. The reasons for such incidents remain a mystery.
Blazing from within
This dramatic incident occurred on February 19, 1725 in a small Parisian hotel and became the first official evidence of spontaneous human combustion. The wife of the owner, Jacques Millet, suffering from alcoholism, went down to the basement, taking with her a bottle of wine. The owner fell asleep without waiting for his wife. The smell of burning woke him up. Jacques Millet quickly got dressed and rushed to the basement. There a terrible picture appeared before his eyes: the remains of an unfortunate woman were smoldering on a chair.
The court tried to accuse the hotel owner of premeditated murder, but the innocent man was saved from execution by one surprising circumstance: his wife burned out from the inside. The victim's clothes turned out to be unscorched! The doctor Le Sha, who was at the hotel that night, was able to prove to the judges that not a single mortal is able to burn a human body without damaging surrounding objects.
Such chilling incidents are far from uncommon in the annals of history. Most often, overweight women addicted to wine became victims of spontaneous combustion. Therefore, even 300 years ago, many believed that this was God’s punishment for an unrighteous lifestyle. But sometimes fire also punished innocent people.
American Jack Angell, completely sober, went to bed in his camper on November 12, 1974. He woke up only four days later and saw with horror that his right hand had burned to the ground. Significant areas of skin on his back were also burned. When questioned, the unfortunate man could not say anything intelligible. He could only remember “a strange semblance of an explosion in his chest.” Neighbors at the campsite, who came to the rescue, were amazed to find Jack Angel wearing intact pajamas.
Forensic medical experts were also extremely surprised - the victim’s hand was burned from the inside. This was evidenced by the preserved skin and bone in some places, which had turned to ash. Experts spent more than two years disassembling and reassembling Jack's campervan, trying to discover the cause of the mystery in it, but to no avail.
They started burning more often
In 1985, several cases of spontaneous combustion of people occurred in England. So, on January 28, a young student who went down to the hall of Widnes College in Cheshire suddenly burst into flames in front of her shocked friends and soon died.
Another victim was elderly widow Mary Carter, who was found dead in the hallway of her flat in Ivor Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham. Although there were matches in the room, they were not found near the corpse. They could not figure out where the fire came from.
A month later, 19-year-old computer operator Paul Hayes' stomach flared while he was calmly walking on Stephen Green in London. He managed to get to the hospital, where doctors saved him because the fire burned for about 30 seconds.
In 1988, a 71-year-old woman in England survived spontaneous combustion, but her husband was seriously burned while rescuing his wife from the fire.
In April 1990, a 14-year-old boy from Hunan Province, China, burst into flames several times. Small streams of flame erupted from the round pores on his skin.
On May 29 of the same year in Los Angeles (USA), 26-year-old Angela Hernandez, a patient at a medical center, suddenly burst into flames on the operating table and died.
Similar cases are known in Russia. One of them occurred in October 1990 on the border of the Saratov and Volgograd regions. Two shepherds accidentally wandered onto the slope of a hill, which, according to local beliefs, should be avoided. Feeling tired, one of them sat down on a stone (according to other sources, he sat down out of great need), and the other went to calm the sheep, which were frightened by something. Returning from the flock, the shepherd discovered the burnt corpse of his partner. No more than five minutes passed.
Before the doctors and police arrived, the body was transferred to a cart. Eyewitnesses testified that his clothes were not damaged by the flames. However, when the body was removed from the cart, its bottom turned out to be burnt. The case of accusing the shepherd of setting his partner on fire was closed due to lack of evidence.
Theoretical spark
Can these strange cases of living torches be explained? According to South African professor Jackie van Strijp, there may be several hypotheses. The most plausible is the following: our body contains chemical elements (for example, phosphorus), which, when in contact with each other or air, can spontaneously ignite. Probably, under certain conditions, in an unknown way, pure phosphorus formed reacts with oxygen and... explodes.
Another assumption is based on the fact that other substances can also ignite: flammable gases released by the body, as well as fats, which are especially abundant in the body of fat people. A theoretical spark capable of igniting a combustible mixture can be formed as a result of the difference in electrostatic potentials of individual internal organs.
In the 19th century, a popular hypothesis was the spontaneous combustion of drunkards, whose bodies were soaked in alcohol and therefore burst into flames from any spark, even when smoking.
The listed hypotheses still cannot explain why, in most cases, surrounding objects, and sometimes even the clothes of the victims, remain intact.
A number of researchers of this phenomenon make other assumptions. The fire that burns the unfortunate person from the inside is caused by ball lightning, microwave radiation and even... the reaction of atomic fusion in the body.
Which hypothesis will be correct?
Recently, British researchers have uncovered a mystery that has existed for almost three centuries. It was found that the cause of the phenomenon is methane. It accumulates in the intestines due to dysfunction of the digestive system. Sometimes it is enough to light a cigarette at the wrong time for the gas accumulated in the cavities of the body to ignite.
The ability of unusual fire to destroy bones is no longer a mystery. The experimenters roasted a fattened pig over low heat for 5 hours. It turned out that the bones of the animal that died in the name of science became black, easily crumbling firebrands.
The fat helped turn them into ashes. It turned out that the fat layer of mammals significantly increases the destructive power of the flame. This discovery also made it possible to explain the mysterious preservation of the lower part of the body in victims of spontaneous combustion. As you know, there is practically no fat on the legs.
From the book “Phenomena, Mysteries, Hypotheses” Potapov A.V.
Treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning
Regardless of the level of exposure, virtually all carbon monoxide is cleared from the bloodstream within 8 to 10 hours after exposure ends.
Acute poisoning can be treated by restoring breathing using artificial respiration or resuscitation equipment. The removal of carbon monoxide from hemoglobin is accelerated by inhalation of oxygen. It is necessary to provide breathing with pure oxygen under an increased partial pressure of 1.5-2 atm. The victim should lie in a warm place. The effects of carbon monoxide poisoning should be treated by a doctor, and the victim may require hospitalization.
Carbon monoxide poisoning is often complicated by the development of inflammatory processes in the respiratory tract and lungs (bronchitis, pneumonia), therefore antibiotics are prescribed for prophylactic purposes.
First aid is provided right on the spot - ventilate the room, eliminate the source of carbon monoxide. If the victims are unconscious, immediately call an ambulance and indicate the probable cause.
