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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 22, 1992                   TAG: 9201220208
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Short

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TRUCK COVERS CALLED CAUSE OF POISONING

Children riding in the back of covered pickup trucks are at risk of death from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to researchers who studied young patients at one hospital.

"Many of the parents of these patients initially believed their children to be sleeping in the back of the pickup truck when they in fact were unconscious due to carbon monoxide intoxication," the researchers said.

Of 68 children sent to Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle for treatment of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, 20 had been passengers in the back of pickup trucks with hard shells or tarpaulin covers, the researchers said.

The study covered six years, ending in 1991.

Fifteen of the 20 were knocked out by fumes, one later died and another suffered permanent brain damage, said the researchers, whose study was published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The other patients recovered completely.

In every case, the pickup truck had an exhaust pipe that vented fumes toward the back instead of toward the side, or had a leak that allowed fumes to escape backward.

Keywords:
FATALITY

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