Gargling with bleach? Over one in three Americans misusing disinfectants to prevent coronavirus, survey finds
- Many of those polled had ingested, inhaled or washed food with cleaning chemicals after Trump’s remarks on such products
- Survey was done following ‘sharp increase’ in calls to poison control centres during pandemic
More than a third of Americans misused cleaners and disinfectants to try to prevent infection by the coronavirus, according to a survey taken soon after President Donald Trump publicly asked whether injecting such products could treat Covid-19.
Washing food with bleach, using household cleaning or disinfectant products on bare skin, and intentionally inhaling or ingesting these products were some of the most commonly reported “high-risk” practices in a May 4 online survey of 502 US adults, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.
The survey’s lead author said it was undertaken following a “sharp increase” in calls to poison control centres for exposure to cleaners and disinfectants during the pandemic.
In late April, Trump asked scientists during one of his coronavirus task force briefings whether inserting disinfectant into the bodies of people infected with the virus might help clear the disease, horrifying health experts. Makers of household cleaners were forced to urge people not to drink or inject their products.
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Some 39 per cent of people surveyed reported intentionally engaging in at least one high-risk practice not recommended by the CDC to prevent coronavirus infection, including using bleach to clean food or misting the body with a disinfectant spray.