During the COVID-19 pandemic , we have find false and severe claims thatdrinking bleachorinjecting disinfectantcan forestall SARS - CoV-2 infection . However , old epidemic have also caused multitude to take drastic measures in an attempt to protect themselves – sometimes with tragic consequences .
Over 30 state werestruckby the 2002 - 2004 SARS irruption , with 8,096 mass regard and 774 multitude dying from the disease . One of the countries hit by the computer virus was Taiwan . According to theTaiwan CDC , there were 664 likely cases of SARS in the country between March and June 2003 , with 346 sustain via PCR or antibody tests . Of these confirmed caseful , 73 were fatal .
Understandably , multitude wanted to avert fall ill . alas , a 45 - year - old woman in Taiwan die due to an unusual effort to guard off the virus . The cleaning woman ended up passing away after bathe in 40.5 % ethanol for an extended stop of time .
“ She had put herself into the fluid from around 11 p.m. believing it could prevent SARS and was found dead at about 11 a.m. the next solar day by her phratry , ” write the writer of the medical compositor’s case report detail the event , published inForensic Science Internationalin 2005 .
The woman ’s blood inebriant density ( BAC ) was find to be 1,350 milligrams per 100 cc of roue ( or 1.35 % ) . For context of use , a BAC of 0.4 % can be fatal . According to calculations done by the authors , she would have had to absorb 1.5 liters of 40 % intoxicant to reach this BAC .
Other documented vitrine of people with a BAC over 1 % are rarefied , but theme of them do live . In December 2010 , a world wasreportedly arrestedin Queenstown , South Africa , driving a van containing five boy , a woman , and 15 allegedly slip sheep . His BAC was found to be 1.6 % . Apaper from 1984describes a man who survived a BAC of 1.5 % , but only after treatment with dialysis and intravenously administered fructose .
When she was feel in the bathtub , the woman ’s head was above the smooth level , as the bath was too small to fit her intact body in , so the investigator claim that it was unlikely she drank a large amount of the alcohol . She also show no planetary house of trauma , intake of drug , or drowning .
Instead , the authors of the newspaper theorize that the alcohol was inhaled and / orabsorbed via the skin . “ Alcohol ( ethanol ) can be absorbed through the skin , but intoxication triggered by tegument absorption is rare , especially in adult , ” they drop a line . " Nevertheless , she might have inhaled some alcohol , which would have accelerate her intoxication . "
The authors also reason that once her BAC extend to a certain level , her power to rise out of the bathtub would have been inhibited .
While this case is shocking and distressing , wicked adverse issue from disinfecting the skin with alcohol are rare . harmonise to theWHOQ&A Sir Frederick Handley Page on the risks of alcohol - base mitt rubs : “ Published cogitation to escort have shown that after using the handrubs , alcoholic drink levels find in the bloodline are insignificant ( ethyl alcohol ) or not detectable ( iso - propyl ) . ”
As the writer of the vitrine report reason out , “ This tragical fount has demonstrated that multitude facing a crisis such as the SARS epidemic may take extreme measures . ”
