Poor ventilation could make your child ill
What you need to know:
- Boarding schools are wonderful places for children to grow.
- However, before you enrol your child it is important to check aeration in the dormitories as it might just save a life.
A couple of months ago, Fiona Akullu, a school girl in Primary Five, was tormented by dull headaches, body weakness and mental confusion. She had been depressed at school and as a result, her performance in class assignments declined remarkably.
Unknown to her, Akullu was suffering from the effects of carbon dioxide poisoning. The overcrowding at her school dormitory was causing a buildup of the gas in the room at night. Carbon dioxide gas had been starving her body of oxygen and affecting the brain cells that need a lot of oxygen to perform its work.
Akullu is not alone in this problem. Many people, especially school children and adults in poorly ventilated rooms suffer similar episodes.
Unfortunately, many are not aware of the silent destruction taking place inside their bodies.
Issue at hand
Carbon dioxide gas poisoning is one of the most common kinds of accidental poisoning causing deaths and emergencies globally.
Every year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 4.3 million people a year die from exposure to household air pollution.
In his 2008 study, Mark Jacobson, a Stanford University scientist, indicated that global air pollution deaths each year, induced by additional carbon dioxide in the air, would amount to 21,600.
Solomon Ongora, a consultant on environmental management and a lecturer at Kyambogo University agrees with the attribution of Jacobson saying one of the risk factors of carbon dioxide poisoning is poor design of houses meant for accommodation.
“Houses meant for accommodation like dormitories must have enough opening to facilitate the exit of carbon dioxide and allow oxygen to get in. Windows must be kept open at night especially in school dormitories to avoid intoxication,” Ongora said in an interview.
He says with the ever increasing phenomena of private schools, many entrepreneurs were turning commercial buildings into schools endangering the well-being of school children.
Dr Patrick Butchan Ocen, the district health officer of Lira, says carbon dioxide, is a by-product of respiration that must be released into a fresh environment.
“When carbon dioxide builds up in an environment, one may begin inhaling carbon dioxide instead of oxygen,” he warns.
Effects on body
According to the UK National Health Services(NHS), after carbon dioxide is breathed in, it enters the blood stream and mixes with haemoglobin (part of red cells that carry oxygen) to form carboxyhaemoglobin.
When this happens, the blood is no longer able to carry oxygen, and this lack of oxygen causes body cells to fail and die. The poisoning affects the brain, heart and body.
Symptoms of carbon dioxide poisoning may include increased respiratory rate, headache, impaired consciousness and convulsion which may lead to deaths.
Dr Ocen says morning tiredness is a typical sign of carbon dioxide poisoning following a night of exposure to the gas.
“Victims such as children will be tired, weak and unable to do anything or concentrate in class,” he says adding that the gas can interact with other infectious materials to cause further illness.
“For public buildings such as a school dormitory, we recommend that the windows should have a length of 90cm from the floor, a width of 1.2 metres and windows must be open at night to facilitate free flow of air while students are asleep,” he advised.
Policy
Moses Owani, a concerned parent in Lira town says poor supervision of schools and corruption is to blame for the congestion in schools. “Many of our schools have turned into a death trap for our children,” he says.
Lira Municipal principal education officer, Jayn Frances Ofungi acknowledges that many private schools are congested which raises safety concerns.
“We have problems of school management who do not want to erect recommended structures that match with the school enrollment and also parents who continue to take their children to over populated schools,” she observes.
She says parents are the first inspectors in a school and should therefore not take their children to a school that is already congested.
Lira District education officer, George Abua admitted that lack of transport for inspectors and the office of the DEO were affecting school supervision and performance.
In the financial year 2014/2015, more than Shs600 million was allocated to districts across the country as part of the school inspectors’ grant.
Diagnosis and treatment
According to the US National Library of Medicine, the management of carbon dioxide poisoning requires the immediate removal of the victim from the toxic environment, administration of oxygen and appropriate supportive care. In extreme cases it may require assisted ventilation.
Dr Ocen says a patient suspected to be exposed to the gas will undergo clinical tests -- where his heart and lungs will be examined and blood samples taken to confirm the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood.
Symptoms of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a gas that is both odourless and colourless. Everyone is exposed to small amounts of carbon monoxide throughout the day. However, inhaling a lot of it can cause CO poisoning. CO can increase to dangerous levels when combustion fumes become trapped in a poorly ventilated or enclosed space (such as a garage). Inhaling these fumes causes CO to build up in your bloodstream, which can lead to severe tissue damage. If you breathe in large amounts of CO, your body will begin to replace the oxygen in your blood with CO. When this occurs, one can become unconscious. Death may occur in these cases.
You should go to the hospital right away if you have been exposed to a source of CO. The most common symptoms of CO poisoning are:
Dull headache
Weakness
Nausea
Vomiting
Confusion
Dizziness
Difficulty breathing.