Warning after sharp rise in 'silent killer' cases in Greater Manchester

A sharp increase in suspected carbon monoxide (CO) incidents has been recorded in Manchester and other parts of the region. Engineers from Cadent, the region’s gas emergency service, responded to 2,889 CO-related jobs in Manchester in 2023/24 – a 37 per cent increase compared to the previous year.

No other town or city in the North West recorded a higher number than Manchester, and only London and Glasgow nationally recorded more.

Cadent says the trend shows the critical need for home and other property owners to do annual checks of any fuel-burning appliance, such as central heating boilers and log burners. There are around 40 deaths attributed to CO poisoning - known as the silent killer - in England and Wales every year.

The gas is odourless, colourless, and tasteless and symptons of CO poisoning include headaches, nausea, chest and stomach pains. It is produced when fossil fuels are burned without adequate air ventilation.

In Wigan there was a 56 percent increase in cases to 389 and in Stockport cases rose by 69 percent to 503. The most incidents after Manchester was Bolton with 572 - up by 26 percent.

Lasy month the Manchester Evening News reported how a schoolgirl saved her grandmother after she had been suffering with mysterious 'dizzy spells'. Connie Burslem, from Monton, Salford, learned about carbon monoxide (CO) during a workshop at her school, St Mary’s RC Primary in Eccles.

Classmates were given CO alarms and as Connie had two already at her home, she gave it to her 79-year-old 'Nanna' Pauline, from Cadishead. Two days later, the alarm went off.

Pauline thought it might have been faulty at first but after calling out gas distribution company Cadent, it was discovered she had a CO leak from her cooker. “If