WVU in the News: Dr. Paul Beck featured on KDKA

Recently KDKA reporter, Erika Stanish, was on campus to do a story on Carbon Monoxide stemming from a recent apartment building evacuation. Paul Beck, the medical director at the Uniontown Hospital emergency department, said carbon monoxide is a gas that comes from incomplete combustion. "It is tasteless, odorless, colorless and has 200 times more affinity for hemoglobin binding than regular oxygen So, it leads to basically death by low oxygen being delivered to the tissue," Beck said. When carbon monoxide is present, there are symptoms you should pay attention to, especially within 24 hours after a fire. "It can be, you know, short of breath, lightheaded, dizzy, altered mental status. People can come in an actual coma or unconsciousness. So, it can be very variable. Some people can just have nausea and vomiting. You think you have a GI bug, and it can be carbon monoxide," Beck said.