Poison centers field virus questions amid outbreak

Описание: (8 May 2020) US poison control centers are fielding questions about the use of cleaning products during the coronavirus outbreak.
Lloyd Herrington, a certified specialist in poison information at the Georgia Poison Center, said that people have been using disinfectants like Lysol in ways they shouldn't.
"I had a call from a woman who worked for police departments and said that they were basically spraying people down with Lysol before they would let them in the building," he said.
"Things that really are potentially dangerous."
Amid virus fears and a shortage of cleaning supplies, people are improvising solutions that are potentially unsafe.
Matthew Stanton, a clinical toxicologist at the Wisconsin Poison Center, said the center has recently received an increased number of calls about whether it's OK to ingest or inject cleaning products.
Last month, US President Donald Trump noted at a briefing that researchers were looking at the effects of disinfectants on the virus and wondered aloud if they could be injected into people.
Stanton said the center received 13 calls about such uses in the days following Trump's comments, compared to three over a similar period previously.
He added the majority of those callers specifically mentioned the president or the government.
The White House has since accused the media of misrepresenting Trump's comment.
Tammy Holzer, a certified specialist in poison information at the Wisconsin Poison Center, said people are asking about the safety of ingesting cleaning products because of how they've interpreted his statements.
She clarified: "Absolutely not. We do not want people to ingest any chemicals or disinfectants of any kind."
Gaylord Lopez, Director of the Georgia Poison Center, said the comments are not unusual for a layperson.
"It's not that I fault the president at all. The thing is, we should all have personal responsibility," he said.
"If you're going to do something and you're sort of unsure, you know, call someone who may be a little bit more expert in that field."
He added, the center in Atlanta has not received any more such calls than in previous years.
What is on the rise is calls about mixing chemicals. Now that most stores are out of household cleaners like bleach, people are trying to create their own solutions.
Lopez said that can be very dangerous.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.
For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

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