A chemical product often used to bleach hair in salons across the globe should not be inhaled as a way to treat or prevent COVID-19, experts say.
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America is sounding the alarm on a “concerning and dangerous” new trend that is currently making its way through social media channels.
Experts say that an increasing number of people on Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok have been “breathing in hydrogen peroxide through nebulizers to try to prevent or treat COVID-19.” (Nebulizers are devices that turn liquid asthma medicine into a mist to allow patients to inhale it through a mask or mouthpiece.)
“This is dangerous,” AAFA said in a news release last week.
The message was also shared on Twitter — over a red background, and topped with an image of a skull, the universally understood symbol of danger.
Hydrogen Peroxide, or H2O2, can be used as a cleaner and stain remover. However, it can also “cause tissue damage if you swallow it or breathe it in,” AAFA warns.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, H2O2 “can be toxic if ingested, inhaled, or by contact with the skin or eyes.”
The normally colorless liquid is found in many households at low concentrations (3-9%) for medicinal applications, as well as bleach for both clothes and hair. In higher concentrations, it can be used to bleach textiles and paper; as a component of rocket fuels; and in the production of foam rubber and organic chemicals.
Inhalation of household-strength H2O2 (3%) can cause respiratory irritation, while inhalation of vapors from concentrated (higher than 10%) solutions may result in “severe pulmonary irritation.”
The AAFA announcement comes just weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reminded people that they shouldn’t use the anti-parasite drug ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19.
Ivermectin tablets are approved by the FDA to treat people with intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis, two conditions caused by parasitic worms. A topical form (on the skin) of the drug is also used to treat external parasites, such as head lice, and for skin conditions like rosacea. Certain animal formulations of ivermectin are also approved to treat or prevent parasites in animals.
“You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the FDA tweeted.
The tongue-in-cheek message came a day after the Mississippi State Health Department sent a letter to healthcare providers across the state warning them of an “increasing number of calls from individuals with potential ivermectin exposure taken to treat or prevent COVID-19 infection.”
Health officials said that “at least 70% of the recent calls” they received were related to the ingestion of “livestock or animal formulations of ivermectin purchased at livestock supply centers.”