Pediatric carbon monoxide poisoning

From Yenra

Most of the children were playing video games.

In a paper published in the June 1, 2009 issue of the Journal of Pediatrics, researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston explain that 75 percent of children treated for carbon monoxide poisoning caused by gasoline-powered electrical generators were playing video games.

When interviewed by researchers, families reported using the generators, which they placed inside the home or an attached garage, to power televisions and video game systems.

Of the 37 individuals treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after the storm, 20 were under the age of 20. In nine of those cases, researchers were able to speak with families to determine why a generator was being used. In 75 percent of those cases, the generator was used to run video games.

All of the patients were treated at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, the only hospital in Houston with a hyperbaric oxygen treatment center that is capable of treating patients with carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide is a product of combustion of organic matter with an insufficient oxygen supply. When kept inside the home generators give off carbon monoxide and people can begin breathing it in causing symptoms such as headaches, nausea and flu-like effects. If exposed for a longer length of time, death can occur. Carbon monoxide poisoning is the most common cause of poisoning death in the United States. A hyperbaric chamber is used to give 100 percent oxygen under increased atmospheric pressure to patients exposed to carbon monoxide.

Caroline Fife, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the UT Health Science Center at Houston concluded that "next time, we are going to have to consider reaching out to children."