New research has found a dangerous consequence of prolonged power outages in the United States due to severe weather — carbon monoxide poisoning.
“Carbon monoxide poisoning is just one example of the effects on health that we can expect with climate change, rising global temperatures, and increased frequency and severity of severe weather events,” says克里斯托弗Worsham，MD, a pulmonologist and critical care physician at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the lead author of the researchletter, published on January 13 in theNew England Journal of Medicine。
根据U.S. Energy Information Administration，普通美国人每年都有八小时，没有权力。路易斯安那州居民在黑暗中度过了最多的时间;普通人在没有电力的情况下花了几个超过60个小时。
德克萨斯州的停电造成300例一氧化碳中毒
Outbreaks of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning have been reported after severe weather events that cause power outages and lead to an increased use of generators.
作者引用了德克萨斯州2021寒冷的婴儿捕捉引起的主要停电，影响了数百万居民。CO中毒造成至少11人死亡，在一周停电期间，在急诊室和紧急护理诊所寻求一名以上1,400多人，根据德克萨斯州论坛报。Texas is one of six states with no statewide requirement for carbon monoxide detectors.
An Estimated 50,000 People Visit the Emergency Room Each Year With CO Poisoning
Carbon monoxide is a gas that has no odor or color and is found in fumes made by cars, trucks, stoves, gas ranges, and heating systems. The gas can build up in areas that don’t have good ventilation, and people can be poisoned by breathing the fumes, according tomedlineplus。
在美国接近50,000人访问急诊部门，至少有430人每年死亡，因为偶然的CO中毒，据Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
红细胞拾取CO比他们拿起氧气快，所以当你吸入它时，你的身体用气体取代血液中的氧气。CO中毒的症状包括头痛，头晕，弱点，恶心，呕吐，胸痛和混乱。
People who are sleeping or who have been drinking alcohol can die from CO poisoning before ever noticing symptoms.
The First Systematic Study to Examine CO Poisoning With Major Power Outages
研究人员能够通过将来自大型商业保险数据库的数据组合来衡量与2007年至2018年重大停电部的能源部的数据，量化与平均主要停电相关的CO中毒风险。
调查人员确定了581个主要停电，平均持续时间为47.9小时，停电后10天内发生的580个与中毒有关的应急部门访问。作者还在停机前的10天内履行了CO中毒访问（有219个）用作基线进行比较。
Children Are at Higher Risk of CO Poisoning
In outages lasting longer than 24 hours, the risk of CO poisoning was significantly higher during the outage compared with the baseline rate. For outages lasting more than two days, the risk of CO poisoning was 9.3 times higher than baseline, and 13.5 times higher for children.
“我们的研究结果表明，我们应该经常期望在权力出局的地区存在一氧化碳中毒的情况 - 特别是当停电超过48小时时 - 并且儿童可能更容易受到能源缓解相关的共同中毒，“Worsham博士说。他补充说，对这些发现的最可能解释是使用便携式气体发电机或汽车产生电力和热量。
较小的个体更容易在空中侵入，这可以解释为什么在儿童中的结果更加明显，笔记Worsham。
To make sure the findings were connected to power outages and not efforts to generate heat simply because it was cold, researchers checked CO poisoning surrounding all cold snaps and snowstorms and didn't see increased CO poisoning, which suggests these cases are more likely tied to the power outages.
“The risk for carbon monoxide poisoning can be mitigated at the source by preventing power outages in the first place by improvements to our electrical grid infrastructure, particularly as severe weather events are expected to increase in frequency and severity with rising global temperature,” says Worsham.
安全提示to Avoid Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
CDC提供以下CO中毒预防提示：
- 切勿将电机留在停放在车库或任何其他封闭或部分封闭的空间的车辆中。
- Never run a generator, pressure washer, or any gasoline-powered engine inside a basement, garage, or other enclosed structure, even if the doors or windows are open, unless the equipment is professionally installed and vented. Vents and flues must be free of debris, especially if winds are high, because flying debris can block ventilation lines.
- 切勿运行机动车辆，发电机，高压垫圈或任何汽油发动机closer than 20 feet to a residence's open window, door, or vent.
A comprehensive list of CO poisoning tips can be found on theCDC网站。
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends that every home have a carbon monoxide detector. Detectors should be placed on a wall about five feet above the floor, because the gas is lighter than air and it may be found with warm, rising air, according to the环境保护局（EPA）。The detector may also be placed on the ceiling.
The agency recommends that each floor have its own separate detector. If you do use a single carbon monoxide detector, place it near the sleeping area and make certain the alarm is loud enough to wake you up.
