Calls to a State Poison Center Concerning Cleaners and Disinfectants From the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic Through April 2020.

We examined calls about cleaners and disinfectants to the Michigan Poison Center (MiPC) since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We compared all calls related to exposure to cleaners or disinfectants, calls with symptoms, and calls in which a health care provider was seen during the first quarters of 2019 and 2020 and in relationship to key COVID-19 dates. From 2019 to 2020, the number of all disinfectant calls increased by 42.8%, the number of calls with symptoms increased by 57.3%, the average number of calls per day doubled after the first Michigan COVID-19 case, from 4.8 to 9.0, and the proportion of calls about disinfectants among all exposure calls to the MiPC increased from 3.5% to 5.0% (P < .001). Calls for exposure to cleaners did not increase significantly. Exposure occurred at home for 94.8%97.1% of calls, and ingestion was the exposure route for 59.7% of calls. Information about the adverse health effects of disinfectants and ways to minimize exposure should be included in COVID-19 pandemic educational materials. PMID: 33059533 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Public Health Reports - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Public Health Rep Source Type: research