Characterizing Exposures to Methanol-based Hand Sanitizers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Use of the National Poison...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an official health advisory after receiving reports of patients in New Mexico and Arizona who experienced serious adverse health effects after swallowing methanol-based hand sanitizer (MBHS). CDC and America's Poison Centers conducted enhanced surveillance using the National Poison Data System (NPDS) for all calls to poison centers (PCs) that reported exposure to MBHS.

We queried NPDS for human exposure cases to MBHS between June 22, 2020 and September 14, 2020. We conducted descriptive statistics to analyze by daily case volume, age group, sex, caller site, management site, exposure route, medical outcome, reason for exposure, clinical effects, and treatment.

Forty-nine states, Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands reported at least 1 exposure, with a total of 2164 cases. Adults aged 20-59 represented the largest proportion of cases (44.8%). Most calls (94.2%) were from a non-health care facility and were managed on site (82.4%). The exposure route was primarily dermal (88.8%) followed by ingestion (12.0%).

Quick response and action for exposures to MBHS containing products is essential to ensure public health safety. PCs remain a valuable resource for providing guidance and advice for toxic exposures.