Carbon monoxide poisoning in tents--a review.

This review discusses the overlooked problem of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning within small tents. It summarizes previous case reports, reviews the toxicity of CO, and attempts to draw conclusions from experimental work. Finally, practical recommendations are developed on avoiding CO poisoning within tents. The term carbon monoxide was used in a search of the Medline database covering the years 1966 to 2003. The results were combined with the terms atmosphere or camps or stoves or climbs or mountains or tents or poisons. The resulting articles were reviewed, and those relevant to this problem were obtained. Hard copies were hand searched for further relevant articles until no more citations could be found. Three original articles were impossible to obtain but have been cited to assist others seeking to find them. Other data and articles were obtained from the Ministry of Defence but are unpublished for security reasons.