NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Carbon monoxide poisoning, typically a health risk indoors, also can occur outdoors, warn officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.
The warning comes following the report of a farmer in Kentucky who suffered carbon monoxide poisoning while planting tobacco in an open field. She was seated on a tobacco setter, a device used for setting tobacco plants into the ground, which was towed by a gasoline-powered tractor with an exhaust pipe that vented backward.
After about four hours of planting, the 37-year-old woman and a co-worker seated beside her developed headaches. Later, as she continued to work with a new partner, the headaches became more severe and were accompanied by drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, and heart pounding.
She collapsed while on the setter and was treated in an emergency room. Subsequent field tests with the tractor confirmed the potential for extensive carbon monoxide (CO) exposure to setter riders.
CDC officials say tractors with upward-venting exhaust pipes should be used whenever possible. They recommend that farm workers be informed of the potential carbon monoxide hazard and alerted to symptoms of CO poisoning. They should also stop work if symptoms appear, take frequent breaks, and rotate positions to limit exposure time.
The agency also recommends that health care-providers in regions where similar equipment to that involved in the Kentucky CO incident should consider CO poisoning when workers present with characteristic symptoms.
SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (1997;46:1224-1227)
