During the Rosh Hashanah holiday, a family of nine – parents and their seven children – was rushed to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital in Jerusalem after all of them suffered dizziness, headaches, nausea and vomiting.
Dr. David Rechtman, head of the Pediatric Emergency Department at Hadassah Mount Scopus, explained: “The parents arrived with their children realizing that something unusual was happening medically, but without knowing the cause. The attentiveness of Dr. Talia Dor Wolman, senior neurologist and head of the pediatric neurology service at Hadassah, who examined the symptoms, led to the suspicion of poisoning. After tests, very high levels of carbon monoxide were indeed found in the family’s blood.
“Carbon monoxide is a highly toxic gas produced by combustion in a closed space with low oxygen. It can damage the central nervous system and cause death, or alternatively lead to irreversible developmental harm. Because it is colorless and odorless, one cannot detect its presence at home until physical damage is already felt,” Dr. Rechtman added.
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Fire and rescue teams called to the scene discovered that the source of the poisoning was a generator placed near the family’s home, which emitted the gas into the house. The family members, all conscious, were first treated in the emergency rooms for children and adults at Hadassah Mount Scopus and were later transferred by ambulances for hyperbaric treatment at Hadassah Ein Kerem.
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Hyperbaric treatment and release
Dr. Eyal Avraham, vascular surgeon and head of the Hyperbaric Medicine Unit at Hadassah, described: “Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is one of the main treatments for carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Its advantage lies in the fact that inside the chamber the patient breathes pure oxygen (100%) at a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure. In this way, CO leaves the blood quickly, oxygen supply to the tissues damaged by oxygen deficiency improves, and the risk of delayed neurological injuries – one of the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning – is reduced.”
At the end of the Rosh Hashanah holiday, all nine family members were released home in good condition.
