BEWARE OF TOXIC COVID-19 ‘REMEDIES’
Tragically, some attempts to avoid infection can be lethal — such as ingesting methanol
The Earth is flat; spoons can be bent with the power of the mind; the sun goes around the Earth; self-levitation can be achieved by mastering meditation: A surprising number of people hold such beliefs, and while irritating to those of us who are guided by science, they are essentially benign, unlikely to harm anyone.
Unfortunately, there are other nonsensical beliefs, often emerging at a time when people face desperate situations, that are not harmless. The COVID-19 pandemic that has descended on us is such a time. The SARSCOV-2 virus can kill, but tragically some false beliefs about avoiding infection can also be lethal. A dreadful example is the death of some 500 people and the sickening of 3,000 others in Iran by drinking methanol.
How does such a calamity happen? Apparently, it all started with a post on social media by Connor Reed, an English teacher in Wuhan who presented at the local hospital complaining of a persistent cough and breathing difficulties. He was diagnosed with COVID -19 and was hospitalized for two weeks where his breathing was facilitated with oxygen support. While in the hospital, he also started drinking hot whiskey with honey until it ran out, although it isn’t clear how he managed to avail himself of this old fashioned “remedy.”
In any case, he recovered and claimed in his post that “I am proof that coronavirus can be beaten.”
Given that he really did recover, technically the statement is correct. But it is quite a stretch to suggest that the recovery was due to the whiskey and honey. Reed is 25 years old, and most people of that age beat the virus whether they ply themselves with whiskey and honey or not.
Couple this post with the legitimate advice to use alcohol-based hand sanitizers, the illegality of drinking alcohol in Iran and a distrust in a government that at first minimized the coronavirus, and you have the makings of a tragedy.
The term “alcohol” refers to a family of compounds with molecular structures that feature the presence of one or more hydroxyl groups (OH) bonded to a carbon framework. However, different alcohols can have dramatically different properties. Ethanol, the alcohol in beverages, has two carbon atoms in its structure, while methanol is a simpler compound having only one carbon to which the hydroxyl group is attached. That extra carbon atom in ethanol makes a world of difference. While ethanol can be toxic in large doses, methanol is poisonous in very small amounts.
Both ethanol and methanol can depress the central nervous system, causing respiratory problems and a decreased heart rate but methanol does it more effectively. Furthermore, methanol is metabolized first to formaldehyde, then to formic acid, which is highly toxic due to inhibition of the enzyme cytochrome c oxidase. This enzyme is needed for the proper use of oxygen by cells and when it becomes dysfunctional, the resulting lack of oxygen, or “hypoxia,” can lead to death. If not death, methanol poisoning can cause blindness.
Ethanol production is illegal in Iran, punishable by lashing. On the other hand, methanol can be produced because it as an important commercial chemical used in the production of numerous substances ranging from fuel additives to adhesives and plastics. By law, In Iran, a dye has to be added to commercial methanol to prevent anyone mistaking it for ethanol and drinking it. As is often the case where ethanol is illegal, bootleggers surface to fill the need. Some actually produce ethanol by secretly fermenting raisins, but others add bleach to destroy the colouring that is added to commercial methanol and then pass it off as drinkable alcohol.
Like ethanol, methanol does cause inebriation, but that can be followed quickly by death. It seems that desperate people in Iran bought into the idea that saturating themselves with alcohol can prevent infection by the coronavirus and ended up poisoning themselves with methanol. Some reports suggest that in a couple of provinces, drinking methanol has caused more deaths than the coronavirus.
Fortunately, we have not seen any such cases in North America although people have wondered about using windshield washer fluid as a disinfectant when nothing else is available. A very bad idea!
First the concentration of methanol is in the range of 40-50 per cent, which is not enough to act as a disinfectant, and on top of that, methanol readily crosses the skin and ends up in the bloodstream. Just handling methanol can cause a toxic reaction. There is no situation in which methanol should be used to combat the coronavirus.
Neither is there any situation in which people should be consuming chlorine dioxide bleach. Social-media sites crow about “Miracle Mineral Solution,” a concoction that comes in two bottles, one containing sodium chlorite and the other citric acid.
When mixed, these combine to produce chlorine dioxide, an industrial bleaching agent that is one of the approved antiviral chemicals to clean surfaces. But ingesting a chlorine dioxide solution with hopes of killing a virus is pure folly and can result in nausea, diarrhea, severe vomiting and life-threatening low blood pressure.
Miracle Mineral Solution is not a miracle, not a mineral and certainly not any solution to the coronavirus curse. joe.schwarcz@mcgill.ca
Joe Schwarcz is director of Mcgill University’s Office for Science & Society (mcgill.ca/oss). He hosts The Dr. Joe Show on CJAD Radio 800 AM every Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m.