Hotel guests face carbon monoxide risk

NEW YORK, June 27 (Reuters) Carbon monoxide poisonings at hotels and motels may not be common, but they're not becoming rarer with time either, according to a new study.

Using databases of news reports and court cases, researchers were able to document 68 incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning at US hotels, motels and resorts between 1989 and 2004.

The incidents sickened 772 people, 27 of whom died, the researchers report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Based on these figures, the odds of any one person suffering carbon monoxide poisoning at a hotel are quite low, said lead study author Dr. Lindell Weaver of LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.

However, he told Reuters Health, ''when it happens, it can be serious and lethal.'' Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas found in combustion fumes, such as those from cars, gas ranges and heating systems.

Carbon monoxide can build up indoors if a furnace, water heater or other fuel-burning appliance is in poor condition or not properly vented.

Some symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include dizziness, nausea, chest pain and confusion. Exposure is particularly dangerous when people are asleep, since the gas may prove fatal before they awake.

In the US, federal law requires hotels, motels and resorts to have smoke detectors in every guest room, but there are no national laws regarding carbon monoxide detectors.

In a search of state government Web sites, Weaver and colleague Kayla Deru found that a few states require hotels to have carbon monoxide alarms on the premises. No state, however, requires detectors in all guest rooms.

It ''makes sense,'' according to Weaver, for these businesses to have carbon monoxide detectors, which cost about 25 edollars ach.

Yet, of the 43 sites the investigators were able to contact after their poisoning incidents, only 12 percent had since installed carbon monoxide detectors.

There was also no sign that carbon monoxide poisoning in hotels has become less common over the 15-year study period.

For frequent travelers who are concerned about carbon monoxide, there is one solution, however. Weaver said he carries his own carbon monoxide detector when he's on the road.

The risk of poisoning may be low, but ''why take chances?'' he said.

REUTERS LPB ND0852