Could this have been carbon monoxide poisoning?

[NigellaAwesome]

During an activity at DD's school today, 2 girls fainted and about a further 9 felt unwell, and had to be sent home.

It sounded like a really chaotic situation, with children really panicked and crying, and the school continuing on with the activity even when children were collapsing all over the place. My DD was really frightened and was crying, as were many other children. They range from 8 - 11 years old.

Initially I thought it may have been heat & dehydration. They had been standing for well over an hour in a really hot hall. However, I am now wondering if this could have been carbon monoxide poisoning?

I know that 2 of the children who were sent home appeared to have recovered pretty quickly once they were home, would maybe as a result of being removed from the hall (although could equally apply if it was heat / dehydration I suppose?)

Looking at the symptoms online carbon monoxide poisoning can include nausea, headache, dizziness and collapse.

Any medical bods with experience of this?

Not medical, but I have had some CO training through work.

It could well have been, but for it to have reached concentrations where children were collapsing, there would have to have been a fairly substantial leak - which you would then expect to find in other nearby areas of the school.

The only way to be really sure would be to do a berth or blood test at the time.

If it's something you're really concerned about, you could either buy a CO detector that purely monitors CO levels and then you extract the data afterwards, or less scientific, buy a CO alarm that has a display which will tell you rough levels.

Was the Hall near any fuel source, like the school heating system or kitchen?

Berth = breath, sorry

I would have thought the chance of CO building up to dangerous levels in a school hall are practically nil. You'd have to have a huge furnace in the corner with a broken vent.

I have personally experienced CO poisoning and obviously survived but the headache that lingered was unimaginably awful.

I think CO poisoning is unlikely here but could have been fumes from chemicals or a reaction to something else potentially.

The school were using a nearby church hall (apologies for drip feed). I wondered, since it seemed to be so hot, could it be the first time the heating system had been switched on after the summer?

Maybe someone felt unwell and the rest was mass hysteria?

Carbon monoxide unlikely in a big hall tbh.

Nikki, that was my initial thought, then I thought hot, standing & dehydrated.

I would just never forgive myself if this was the cause and th epossibility hadn't been highlighted to the school. But also worried that I will look a little hysterical.