Tragedy avoided, two people treated after carbon monoxide poisoning

Tragedy due to a faulty boiler was just avoided in Valganna, on the road to Marchirolo. On Saturday night, two people almost lost their lives as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning. The alarm was raised at 7 pm, when the emergency services received a report of a 50-year-old, from Marchirolo, feeling unwell. In coordination with the doctors of the emergency department of Luino Hospital, the responders and firemen provided the necessary treatment to the man and to a woman who lived in the same building and who complained of the same symptoms of general malaise. The two received hyperbaric oxygen therapy in good time.

Guido Garzena, the head of the emergency services, said, “Carbon monoxide poisoning can be a treacherous killer, especially during the winter: the symptoms are often non-specific, anyone that is poisoned is so often as a result of neglected, chronic exposure, with neurological and cardiac damage that appears late. It is generally discovered when a number of people, and pets living in the same rooms, experience the same symptoms. Nausea, vomiting, dizziness and fainting should cause alarm. Ventilating the rooms immediately and calling the emergency services are the first things that should be done.”