"This is a reminder that in no case should disinfectant be administered into the body by injection, ingestion or any other route. In an extraordinary context, this is the message that the Maryland State emergency center had to post on its Twitter account four days ago.
And it's not the only one in this case, several poison control centers across the United States have reported an increase in calls after President Donald Trump suggested that injecting disinfectant could help fight coronavirus . Although the health authorities immediately alerted to the danger of using this method, the calls continued.
"Just to see what was going to happen"
According to ABC, more than 100 calls were made to the Maryland emergency center regarding inquiries about the possible effectiveness of ingesting disinfectant to control the coronavirus. In the aftermath of Donald Trump's suggestion, New York City said that its poison control center had received more calls than normal. Thirty calls were received during the day. Among them, 9 cases concerned exposure to hydroalcoholic gel, 10 cases concerned bleach and 11 concerned other household products.
Same situation in Illinois which also saw an increase in calls made to its poison control center. "There has been a significant increase in calls due to exposure to cleaning products," said the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health on April 25, urging residents not to ingest Covid treatment. -19 chemicals.
Since Donald Trump's speculation therefore, public health agencies, medical experts and at least one manufacturer of hydroalcoholic gel have communicated in mass on the danger of ingesting disinfectants and household cleaners. Faced with this widespread condemnation from the medical community, some of whom qualified this suggestion as "irresponsible" and "dangerous", the president said last Friday that his remark was only sarcasm. "I was asking a sarcastic question to journalists like you, just to see what was going to happen. "
Increase since January
Although Donald's remarks certainly contributed to the increase in calls to poison control centers, reported cases of exposure and ingestion of disinfectants were already increasing before the President's intervention. A report released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that exposure to cleaning products has increased by 20% from January to March 2020 compared to the same period last year .
The CDC notes that the rise in calls started in early March but warns that it is not possible to prove a "definite link between the exposures and the efforts to clean up COVID-19".
"Although a causal association could not be demonstrated, the context of these exposures corresponded to increased media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, to reports of a shortage of cleaning products among consumers and at the start of containment, "said the report.
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