Poison control center calls spike in US as bleach and sanitizer mishaps rise
Poison control centers across the United States are reporting increases in calls for everything from children drinking hand sanitizer to cleaning chemical mishaps.
Experts say most accidental poisonings happen at home, KHGI reports. With more people staying home in the coronavirus pandemic than ever before, especially kids, it’s a problem.
“I think our call volume has actually picked up with the COVID-19 crisis going on and because the children or adolescents are home and there’s things that they can potentially take or get into as well,” said Jean Hammack at the Nebraska Regional Poison Control Center, according to the station.
More than 1.3 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 76,000 deaths as of April 7, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 368,000 confirmed cases with more than 11,000 deaths.
The World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a global pandemic. The United States has declared a national emergency.
States and cities across the nation have closed schools and ordered non-essential workers to stay home to try to curb the spread of COVID-19 as many people try to fight the virus with sanitizers and disinfectants.
That spells trouble, says Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, medical toxicologist and co-medical director at the National Capital Poison Control Center in Washington, D.C., Axios reported.
“You’ll have a lot more children at home among the toxic products that are already there,” Johnson-Arbor said, according to the publication. “It’s on the counter now and more readily available.”
Online inquiries to the center, which also serves parts of Maryland and Virginia, have doubled since last fall, Axios reported. A dozen of those inquiries each day concern children drinking hand sanitizer, which contains ethyl alcohol.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health says calls to poison control centers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia about kids exposed to hand sanitizer are up 80 percent over 2019, WESA reports.
“They almost always are either intentionally or accidentally drinking it,” said Dr. Michael Lynch, at the Pittsburgh center, according to the station. “Or potentially in the eyes and causing burning.”
Some hand sanitizers are infused with scents, which may attract younger children, Axios reported. Fortunately, the bitter taste usually prevents kids from drinking very much.
The Pennsylvania centers say sanitizer isn’t very toxic, so it’s usually enough to wash irritated skin or eat or drink something mild to settle the stomach, WESA reports. They don’t advise inducing vomiting in most cases.
In Oklahoma, poison control centers also report a rise in calls, with a 19 percent increase in calls about medication mix-ups or overdoses, KWTV reports.
Some involve children home from school getting into adult medications, while others involve adults mixing up prescriptions amid the turmoil of the pandemic, according to the station.
“In this time where we’re out of our routine, our normal day-to-day has been disrupted, we have to think about how to keep our homes safe,” said Scott Schaeffer, managing director of the Oklahoma Center for Poison & Drug Information, KWTV reported. “Put things up out of the reach of children.”
The Blue Ridge Poison Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, has asked people to stop drinking bleach or diluted bleach in a misguided attempt to prevent or kill the COVID-19 virus, WSET reported.
A press release by the center warns that bleach is a caustic chemical that can be deadly if ingested, according to the station. While diluted bleach can kill viruses on surfaces, it’s not going to cure an infection.
“It doesn’t work,” said Dr. Chris Hoyte, medical director at the Rocky Mountain Poison Center in Denver, KDVR reported. “There’s no upside to it. There’s only a downside, which is, it can be harmful.”
The Colorado center also reports a 20 percent increase in calls involving household cleaners, according to the station.
“If you actually read the label on the chemicals, if people follow the instructions on the label, nowhere does it say you should mix those chemicals together,” Hoyte said, KDVR reported.
Mixing ammonia and bleach can create chloramine gas, which can irritate the eyes, nose and throat, while mixing vinegar with bleach can create toxic chlorine gas, according to the station. Mixing the chemicals in confined spaces, such as a bathroom, adds to the risk.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 10:31 AM with the headline "Poison control center calls spike in US as bleach and sanitizer mishaps rise."