Carbon Monoxide

A 37 year old woman and her 3 year old daughter described were exposed to carbon monoxide after a new roof was applied to their home which covered the vent for the gas furnace. Both had severe shortness of breath and were hospitalized for acute carbon monoxide poisoning. Some months afterward the daughter was noted to have learning disabilities and four years later she could not learn to read so she could not progress in school. Her mother had slowing and impairment of function which made her quit her job. She had difficulty in completing college to changing careers. Testing showed that mother and daughter had delayed reaction time, abnormal balance, delayed blink reflex, lower than expected recall of verbal and of visual information particularly after a 30 minute delay and were slow making trails and putting grooved pegs in the pegboard. The mother had constricted visual fields in both eyes (tunnel vision) and the daughter had large, arc-like blind spots.