ACCIDENTALLY swallowing hand sanitiser can kill and the public needs to be made aware of the hazards surrounding the commonplace product, doctors have warned.
Experts have warned that more needs to be done to protect at-risk groups such as those with mental health issues, children and people with dementia and confusion.
3
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic – hand hygiene has been one of the key public health messages from the government.
At the start of the first wave of the virus in March many places sold out of hand sanitiser as Brits flocked to buy up the products.
These products are now in most homes, hospitals, schools, workplaces and public venues.
Writing in the British Medical Journal Evidence Based Medicine, researchers pointed to two deaths identified in coroners’ reports as being caused by poisoning.
Alcohol-based hand sanitisers are available in various forms such as liquid, gel or foam.
Most contain 60-95 per cent ethyl alcohol (ethanol) or 70-95 per cent isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol).
PATIENT ACCESS
The study states that in the UK sanitiser poisonings reported to the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) rose by 61 per cent between 2019 and 2020, from 155 (January 1 to September 16) to 398 (January 1 to September 14).
The researchers said two occurred in hospitals in England before the coronavirus pandemic and highlighted the case of a young woman who was a patient on a psychiatric unit.
She had been given antidepressants and was found dead in her bed three days after, with a container of hand gel next to her bed.
Gel like this had been accessible on the ward from a dispenser and patients had been allowed to fill up cups which they could keep in their room.
3
‘TAKE ACTION’
The coroners’ report found that a high level of alcohol was found in her blood.
Her death was attributed to “ingestion of alcohol” and “antidepressant venlafaxine”.
The coroner stated that this had fatally suppressed the woman’s breathing.
The incident was reported to the Department of Health and Social Care and the hospital concerned has said it has taken steps to prevent a recurrence.
The researchers however stated that there are no mechanisms for either verifying or monitoring actions taken by the hospital.
They added: “Nor is it possible to determine whether the actions became standard practice and are still being endorsed across the Trust.”
3
The second death was of a 76-year-old man who accidentally swallowed an unknown amount of sanitiser foam.
This had been attached to the foot of his hospital bed and the patient was also being treated with antidepressants.
Over a nine month period he had become increasingly confused and experts stated that this could have been a result of vascular dementia.
He was admitted to intensive care but died six days later after he developed complications.
INFECTION CONTROL
The primary cause of death was stated as pneumonia and alcohol poisoning secondary to acute delirium and coronary artery disease.
After the inquest it was reported that staff at the Trust were subsequently being made to carry their own portable sanitisers and that it had introduced lockable dispensers.
The researcher said that action should have been taken on a national level and claimed that the second death and hundreds of other poisonings could have been prevented if this had been the case.
The researcher points out that hand sanitisers have an important role when it comes to infection control but said that the two deaths have serious implications for the places using them.
She said: “The combination of increased demand and exposure to alcohol-based hand sanitisers, and the negative impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak on mental health, social support, financial security and health services is a cause of serious concern,” she writes.
“This complex interplay of issues may lead to a further increase in poisonings and deaths that could be mitigated if recommendations from these deaths were implemented,” she adds.
The researcher recommended a public health campaign to raise awareness of the potential harms caused by swallowing alcohol-based sanitisers.
“While governments and public health authorities have successfully heightened our awareness of, and need for, better hand hygiene during the Covid-19 outbreak, they must also make the public aware of the potential harms and encourage the reporting of such harms to poisons information centres,” she concludes.
