Doctors rarely manage to identify neurological damage caused by chronic
exposure to carbon monoxide, according to Carbon Monoxide Support, a British
charity. A survey by the charity of 77 people poisoned by the gas found only one
case in which doctors had made a correct diagnosis on the basis of symptoms. As
a result, people continued to suffer, and prolonged their exposure to the
gas—usually in the home. “This survey is devastating,” says chemical
pathologist Alastair Hay of the University of Leeds, who advises the charity.
“It shows a major failure to detect CO poisoning.”
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