Coronavirus pandemic has made hand sanitisers and masks our best friends but some people are going above and beyond when it comes to using hand gels made for removing germs from the surface of the skin. Yes, there have been cases wherein people have ingested hand sanitisers and lost their lives. CDC has strictly warned against consuming hand sanitisers after cases of swallowing hand sanitisers have surfaced. People have died and according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many have even suffered impaired vision or seizures. CDC had received notification from Arizona and New Mexico in the month of June about methanol poisoning and they found that it was caused because of ingestion of hand sanitizers. Can Overusing Hand Sanitisers Affect Your Bacterial Resistance and Weaken Your Immunity? Everything You Need to Know!

While it is yet not known why people were ingesting hand sanitizer even though FDA has clearly mentioned that one must not consume hand sanitisers. "Alcohol-based hand sanitizer products should never be ingested," the CDC said in a new report. Even the US Food and Drug Administration has been repeatedly warning about methanol in some hand sanitizers distributed in the United States because unlike ethanol -- the alcohol usually used to make hand sanitizer -- methanol is toxic.

CDC explained in their report that Alcohol-based hand sanitizer is a liquid, gel, or foam that contains ethanol or isopropanol used to disinfect hands and while hand hygiene is an important component of the U.S. response to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it is important to not ingest them as they can be fatal!

If soap and water are not readily available, CDC recommends the use of "alcohol-based hand sanitizer products that contain at least 60% ethyl alcohol (ethanol) or 70% isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol). CDC further said, "according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates alcohol-based hand sanitizers as an over-the-counter drug, methanol (methyl alcohol) is not an acceptable ingredient."

The report further cautiones, "Whereas early clinical effects of methanol and ethanol poisoning are similar (e.g., headache, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, loss of coordination, and decreased level of consciousness), persons with methanol poisoning might develop severe anion-gap metabolic acidosis, seizures, and blindness. If left untreated methanol poisoning can be fatal"

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 09, 2020 05:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).