COVID-19: Hand Sanitizer Poisonings Soar, Psych Patients at High Risk

[Northerner]

Cases of poisoning — intentional and unintentional — from ingestion of alcohol-based hand sanitizer have soared during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the United Kingdom alone, alcohol-based hand sanitizer poisonings reported to the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) jumped 157% — from 155 between January 1 and September 16, 2019, to 398 between January 1 and September 14, 2020, new research shows.

More needs to be done to protect those at risk of unintentional and intentional swallowing of alcohol-based hand sanitizer, including children, people with dementia/confusion, and those with mental health issues, according to Georgia Richards, DPhil student, Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, England.

"If providers are supplying alcohol-based hand sanitizers in the community to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the contents should be supplied in lockable and automated dispensers to reduce contamination and improve safety," Richards told Medscape Medical News.

COVID-19: Hand Sanitizer Poisonings Soar, Psych Patients at Risk

Cases of poisoning -- intentional and unintentional -- from ingestion of alcohol-based hand sanitizer have soared during the COVID-19 pandemic.

www.medscape.com

 

[grovesy]

I thought this was going on for years with Alcholics stealing from walls and dispensers in hospitals.

 

[nonethewiser]

I thought this was going on for years with Alcholics stealing from walls and dispensers in hospitals.

It has, problem was always going to escalate with every business having them at door entrances exits. Local shopping centre had them ripped from wall in public areas, costly to replace.

 

[Hepato-pancreato]

don,t think those with alcohol dependency have been getting poisoned as they have been consuming these products for years. Just like the old days stereotypical image of the tramp consuming methylated spirits then they added something which turned it purple and unfit for human consumption.