As winter sets in, households increasingly rely on geysers for hot showers, often keeping bathroom doors and windows tightly shut to retain warmth. This seasonal habit sharply raises the risk of carbon monoxide buildup, especially when gas geysers run in poorly ventilated spaces. People unknowingly turn a daily comfort into a silent danger, as longer hot showers and closed bathrooms allow toxic gases to accumulate without smell or warning. What feels like a routine winter morning can quickly escalate into a medical emergency if ventilation is ignored.
Gas geyser syndrome refers to a set of serious neurological and toxic events caused by exposure to combustion gases released from liquefied petroleum gas powered water heaters used in enclosed bathrooms. Medical literature from India has identified this condition as a preventable but underrecognized public health hazard, particularly in homes with poor ventilation. Evidence from hospital-based studies shows that improper use of gas geysers can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, loss of consciousness, seizures, and even death.
The term gas geyser syndrome was introduced by Indian neurologists after observing a recurring pattern of unexplained neurological collapse in people bathing with gas geysers installed in small bathrooms. According to a clinical case series published in the Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology, patients presented with seizures, altered sensorium, and hypoxic brain injury without prior neurological disease. Investigators identified toxic gas inhalation during bathing as the unifying cause.
These events were not isolated accidents. Instead, they represented a pattern linked to flueless gas geysers operating in enclosed, poorly ventilated spaces.
Liquefied petroleum gas consists mainly of propane and butane. When burned with adequate oxygen, LPG combustion produces water vapor and carbon dioxide. However, as described in a retrospective study published in the Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, combustion becomes incomplete in poorly ventilated bathrooms, leading to the production of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides.
Carbon monoxide is particularly dangerous because it is colorless, odorless, and non-irritating. Individuals exposed to it often do not realize anything is wrong until symptoms appear suddenly. Carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin far more strongly than oxygen, reducing oxygen delivery to the brain and causing hypoxic injury.
Across both studies, patients commonly experienced:
Sudden loss of consciousness during bathing
Seizure-like activity without prior epilepsy
Confusion, dizziness, and headache
Hypoxic brain injury on imaging
Fatal outcomes in severe cases
The researchers emphasized that these symptoms are often misdiagnosed as cardiac events or primary seizure disorders, delaying recognition of the true cause.
In a warning shared on Twitter, Sikandar Adwani said two patients were brought to his OPD after being found unconscious in their bathrooms the same morning. Both had taken hot showers with gas geysers running and doors closed. He stressed that this is not about gas smell.
Carbon monoxide has no odor, no color, and no warning, only slow oxygen starvation to the brain. He flagged sudden headache, (chakkar) or dizziness, nausea or weakness, unusual sleepiness, and confusion as danger signs inside the bathroom, urging people to switch off the geyser, open doors or windows, and step out immediately if even one symptom appears.
A hospital-based study conducted at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi documented 26 patients over a three-year period who developed acute neurological symptoms while bathing with gas geysers. The patients ranged from adolescents to middle-aged adults and had no previous history of epilepsy or cardiac disease.
According to the authors of the study, published in the Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology, 11 patients presented with seizure-like episodes, 13 showed features of carbon monoxide poisoning, and two developed epilepsy following exposure. Brain MRI in affected individuals showed characteristic bilateral lesions of the globus pallidus, a well-recognized marker of carbon monoxide toxicity.
The authors concluded that exposure to combustion gases from gas geysers in poorly ventilated bathrooms was the direct cause of these neurological events.
A separate retrospective analysis from Bengaluru, published in the Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, reviewed 24 cases of sudden loss of consciousness occurring during bathing. In most cases, patients recovered spontaneously, but two individuals were found dead at home and one later died after hospitalization.
The study authors noted that none of the affected individuals had prior neurological or cardiac conditions that could explain the collapse. Imaging findings ranged from normal to evidence of hypoxic injury. Based on clinical presentation and exposure history, the researchers attributed these events to toxic encephalopathy caused by inhalation of gas geyser combustion products.
The medical literature emphasizes that gas geyser syndrome is entirely preventable. The authors of both studies called for stronger public awareness, better regulation of gas geyser installation, and stricter ventilation standards.
References:
1.Mehta, Anish, Rohan Mahale, Aju Abraham John, Masoom Mirza Abbas, Mahendra Javali, Purushottam Acharya, and Srinivasa Rangasetty. 2016. “Odorless Inhalant Toxic Encephalopathy in Developing Countries Household: Gas Geyser Syndrome.” Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice 7, no. 2 (April–June): 228–231. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4821930/?utm
2. Correia, Pamela, Chandrashekhar Agrawal, and Rajeev Ranjan. 2013. “Gas Geyser Syndrome: An Important Preventable Cause of Disabling Neurological Events.” Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology 16, no. 2 (April–June): 245–248. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3724084/?utm