COVID-19: Poisoning from disinfectants rises due to increased use in US

Starting from China's Wuhan city, the novel Coronavirus pandemic has taken the world by storm within months. In the wake of the pandemic outbreak, people have made major lifestyle changes in order to lower the risk of COVID-19 infections. One of the most important precautions to curb the spread of the virus is to regularly clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces at homes. However, people in the United States went a little overboard while sterilizing their homes using the cleaning chemicals, which has led to a rise in the number of cases of poisoning from the disinfectants and cleaners. 

In a report published on April 20, the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed a 20.4 percent rise in incidents of poisoning due to bleach and other cleaning agents in the country over the last three months.

The US poison centers received over 45,550 calls about exposure to cleaning chemicals and disinfectants between January and March 2020, since the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic. The report also suggested that while the cases were seen across all age groups, children under the age of five years and youngsters were the most exposed to the cleaners. The CDC pointed out that there is a temporal association between the timing of the reported exposures and the increased use of cleaning products in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Exposure to hand sanitizers and non-alcoholic disinfectants also saw an approximate 37 percent rise during the recent months. 

The health agency added that the possible reason behind the increase in exposures is that people are cleaning and sanitizing their homes more than normal amid the pandemic fears. From household supplies to groceries, people are using bleach and disinfectants to clean everything they are using. The poison centers also received calls from people who used industrial bleach in poorly ventilated spaces or mixed bleach with acids and other cleaners which resulted in the formation of toxic gases. 

In order to prevent such incidents, the health agency recommended the people to use the cleaning products after reading all the instructions on the label. They also suggested avoiding mixing the chemicals and to wear protective gear while cleaning the areas. They highly advised keeping the children away from the chemicals or while disinfecting the house. 

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the United States is nearing 8 lakh on April 21, and over 42,000 deaths have been reported from the infectious disease.