(Adds Trump explanation of remarks, his previous remarks on
another drug, online reaction, history of conspiracy and
government warnings)
By Kate Kelland
LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's
musings on whether injecting disinfectants might treat COVID-19
has horrified medical professionals and raised fresh concerns
that his stream-of-conciousness briefings could push anxious
people to poison themselves with untested treatments.
An international chorus of doctors and health experts urged
people not to drink or inject disinfectant on Friday after Trump
suggested that scientists should investigate inserting the
cleaning agent into the body as a way to cure COVID-19, the
respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus.
"This is one of the most dangerous and idiotic suggestions
made so far in how one might actually treat COVID-19," said Paul
Hunter, a professor of medicine at Britain's University of East
Anglia.
Hunter said injecting disinfectants likely would kill anyone
who tried it.
"It is hugely irresponsible because, sadly, there are people
around the world who might believe this sort of nonsense and try
it out for themselves," Hunter told Reuters.
Trump said at his daily news briefing on Thursday that
scientists should explore whether inserting ultraviolet light or
disinfectant into the bodies of people infected with the
coronavirus might help them clear the disease.
"Is there a way we can do something like that by injection,
inside, or almost a cleaning?" Trump asked. "It would be
interesting to check that."
Trump said on Friday he was being sarcastic when he made the
comments.
Trump also has promoted an anti-malaria drug called
hydroxychloroquine to treat people with COVID-19 even though its
effectiveness is unproven and there are concerns about heart
issues. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday
cautioned against using hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients
outside of hospitals and clinical trials, citing risks of
serious heart rhythm problems.
'MIRACLE CURE'
The suggestion that bleach and related compounds are a
"miracle cure" has a history in America's conspiracist fringes.
Last August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a
health warning https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-warns-consumers-about-dangerous-and-potentially-life-threatening-side-effects-miracle-mineral
about MMS, or "miracle mineral solution," that was being sold
online with instructions to mix it with lemon or lime juice
before drinking. The combination forms a powerful, dangerous
bleaching agent, the FDA said.
The U.S. Justice Department last week ordered a halt to the
sale of industrial bleach products by an organization called
Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, which was allegedly
marketing it as a cure for autism and AIDS.
Trump's suggestion unleashed a torrent of ridicule online,
with one comedian on social media app TikTok miming the action
of injecting bleach into her veins like a drug.
On Twitter, journalists shared a video of Dr. Deborah Birx,
the coordinator of the White House task force on the
coronavirus, who appeared to look down, hunch her shoulders, and
blink rapidly as Trump told the briefing that disinfectant "does
a tremendous number on the lungs."
The White House said on Friday that Trump's comments had
been taken out of context and that he had urged people to seek
coronavirus treatment only after conferring with their doctors.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a
statement, "President Trump has repeatedly said that Americans
should consult with medical doctors regarding coronavirus
treatment, a point that he emphasized again during yesterday's
briefing."
The emailed statement did not directly mention cleaners or
ultraviolet (UV) light as coronavirus treatments, but its
subject was "White House on disinfectant."
While UV light is known to kill viruses contained in
droplets in the air, doctors have said there is no way it could
be introduced into the human body to target cells infected with
the coronavirus.
"Neither sitting in the sun, nor heating will kill a virus
replicating in an individual patient's internal organs," said
Penny Ward, a professor in pharmaceutical medicine at Kings
College London and chair of the Education and Standards
Committee of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine.
"Drinking bleach kills. Injecting bleach kills faster. Don't
do either!" she added.
Reckitt Benckiser, a British company that manufactures the
household disinfectants Dettol and Lysol, issued a statement
warning people not to ingest or inject its products.
Parastou Donyai, director of pharmacy practice and a
professor of social and cognitive pharmacy at the University of
Reading, said Trump's comments were shocking and unscientific.
Donyai said people worried about the new coronavirus and the
disease it causes should seek help from a qualified doctor or
pharmacist, and "not take unfounded and off-the-cuff comments as
actual advice."
Donyai said previous comments by Trump had already been
linked to people self-administering medicines or other products
in ways that make them poisonous.
"We have already seen people mistakenly poisoning themselves
by taking chloroquine when their hopes were raised by
unscientific comments," Donyai said.
Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University
of California at Berkeley and a former U.S. labor secretary,
added on Twitter: "Trump's briefings are actively endangering
the public's health. Please don't drink disinfectant."
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Additional reporting by Steve
Holland, Lisa Lambert, and Raphael Satter in Washington; Editing
by William Maclean and Howard Goller)
