Four Americans have died and at least 15 have been hospitalized for drinking hand sanitizer, according to a new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The hospitalizations happened in May and June 2020 in Arizona and New Mexico, which saw 13 men and two women between the ages of 21 and 65 suffering from methanol poisoning.
Swallowing hand sanitizers that contain methanol can cause permanent blindness or death, if not treated. People should immediately discontinue use of hand sanitizers recalled by @US_FDA. See more in @CDCMMWR: https://t.co/n4v3D47qSd. pic.twitter.com/rIwfDns22e
— CDC (@CDCgov) August 5, 2020
- They took Donald Trump’s advice to heart. For most people with any semblance of sanity and common sense, Trump’s suggestion back in April that disinfectant should be used inside the body to kill coronavirus seemed both insane and incredibly stupid because it was. However, it seems that at least a few dozen people have taken it to heart and have paid the price because of it.
- The FDA lists methanol as an ingredient that’s “not acceptable.” That’s because it’s incredibly toxic, as the people named in the CDC report discovered. Of the 15 people hospitalized for ingesting it, four died and the others have suffered some pretty serious side effects.
- If you don’t die, you’re still not out of the woods. Drinking hand sanitizer led three of the people hospitalized to develop vision problems while six developed seizures while in the hospital, something that they never suffered from before. As of July 15, four patients were still in the hospital because of complications that resulted from the methanol poisoning.
- This is very serious business. One patient named in the report, a 44-year-old man, was brought in for treatment after “drinking an unknown quantity of alcohol-based hand sanitizer” and after suffering several seizures had to undergo dialysis to clean his blood. He was finally well enough to leave the hospital, but he now has “near-total vision loss.”
- Please, whatever you do, do not drink hand sanitizer. Drinking sanitizer won’t cure you of coronavirus or prevent you from getting it. It will, however, either kill you or severely injure you. Use your brains, people!
