Illinois sees 49% increase in poison exposures during pandemic

The Illinois Poison Center has seen a 40% increase in inappropriate exposures to cleaners and disinfectants since March 1, according to the center.

From March 1 to April 26, there have been 1,162 total exposures. In the same time period last year, Danny Chun, spokesperson for the IPC, said there were 848 exposures.

“So if you’re comparing apples to apples, it’s over a 40% increase,” Chun said.

Chun said the center has been getting several reports of potential harmful exposures and inappropriate uses, including using bleach to wash hands, using cleanser or bleach to wash produce, and mixing cleansers and producing toxic gases.

“Here’s another example. Somebody put bleach in his mouthwash and gargled with it,” Chun said. “Another example, somebody put disinfectant in a neti pot to cleanse their nasal passages.”

The center has not received any injury reports but Chun said inappropriate use of disinfectants and cleansers can cause burning and lead to serious injury.

“Never ingest, swallow, inject or inhale cleanser or disinfectants. Never put them into your body in any way,” he said. “Every cleanser, every disinfectant has a warning label. Read the label on how it’s supposed to be used.”

Chun said he doesn’t know why people are misusing the products.

“We are not mind readers,” he said.

At an April 23 White House briefing, President Donald Trump suggested studying “injection inside” the human body with a disinfectant like bleach or isopropyl alcohol as something that could help combat the virus.

Even before Trump’s suggestion, Illinois had a significant increase in exposure to cleansers and disinfectants, said Lindsey Salvatelli, spokesperson for the McHenry County Department of Public Health.

“We saw a 20% rise nationwide before Trump’s statement. We saw that people were overusing their disinfectants at that point in time. It was people mixing chemicals and people not really reading the labels,” she said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the daily number of calls to poison centers increased sharply at the beginning of March for exposures to cleaners and disinfectants. A large percentage of the calls included exposures among children. Data from the IPC shows increases of exposure in children, adolescents and adults when compared with 2019 data.

As there is an increased risk for children, Chun also advised to keep such products out of their reach.

With the current surge in reported cleaning product misuses, the IPC estimates handling about 8,000 exposures over the next 12 months, according to the center.

The CDC recommends, with precautions, the proper cleaning and disinfection of high-touch surfaces to help mitigate the transmission of COVID-19. Cleansers and disinfectants are meant to be used on surfaces such as tables, hard-backed chairs, doorknobs, light switches, phones, tablets, touch screens, remote controls, keyboards, handles, desks, toilets, sinks, according to the CDC.

Because the IPC doesn’t document data by county, local county data is not available. The McHenry County Department of Public Health also does not handle poison cases.

Source: The Daily Chronicle