Dangerous poisoning Doctors call for carbon monoxide detectors for hookah bars

In hookah bars carbon monoxide detectors are to be installed

For years, experts have pointed to an increased health risk through hookahs. Especially dangerous is the smoke for shisha bar visitors. Because there the carbon monoxide levels are often alarmingly high. Doctors are now demanding the mandatory installation of CO detectors in high-risk buildings.

Health hazards due to carbon monoxide

Experts repeatedly warn against underestimating the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO). The odorless, tasteless and flammable gas arises, for example, when materials such as wood, coal or gas burn without sufficient oxygen. Especially in confined spaces and higher concentrations, the chemical compound can cause poisoning. What is unknown to many: Even with hookah smoke there is a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Doctors are now calling for the installation of CO detectors in hookah bars to be made mandatory.

In shisha bars and in apartments with a gas spa, carbon monoxide poisoning is becoming more common. Doctors now demand that the installation of CO detectors in buildings with high risk to make mandatory. (Image: wisanuboonrawd / fotolia.com)

Make installation of CO detectors mandatory

"Against the background of an increasing number of carbon monoxide poisonings in shisha bars and apartments with gas thermal baths, the medical profession in the Rhineland has called on the state government to make the installation of CO detectors mandatory in these buildings," writes the Ärztekammer Nordrhein in a message.

According to the experts, waterpipe coal is burnt around the clock in many restaurants, resulting in high levels of carbon monoxide in the room air.

Checks carried out by the public authorities showed that in some bars the CO value was increased by almost ten times the value that was still considered harmless by the employers' liability insurance associations.

At the University Hospital Düsseldorf alone, about 40 hookah smokers had to be treated this year.

Odorless gas endangers the health

Carbon monoxide can block the transport of oxygen in the blood. With a poisoning it comes to complaints such as headache, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, nausea and unconsciousness up to the death by suffocation.

Every year, hundreds of people in Germany die from carbon monoxide poisoning. At the beginning of the year, for example, six young people in Bavaria had died in such a poisoning in a garden shed.

Since carbon monoxide is odorless, sufferers usually do not notice that they have inhaled the gas. Especially in sleep, the risk of stifling is therefore great.

CO detectors could contribute to greater safety. (Ad)