Alysha's blog

Common household products can be useful around the house but can quickly become poison to children and teens. More and more children and teens are being hospitalized after ingesting one of the most unexpected household products, hand sanitizer.

Recently, six-year-old Nhaijah Russell was hospitalized after swallowing three to four squirts of hand sanitizer, Nhaijah’s mother, Ortoria Scott told CNN. Feeling dizzy and unable to walk, Russell fell and hit her head. She was monitored over night for signs of brain trauma.

CNN reports that hand sanitizer has between 45% to 95% alcohol compared to wine and beer, which contains around 5% to 12% alcohol.

“Obviously kids can get very intoxicated very quickly because of the intense alcohol content and them not realizing that just a small portion can cause them to get acutely intoxicated,” Emergency Department Director at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, John Gray told KPLC TV.

Another growing concern is teens ingesting hand sanitizer in order to get drunk. Hand sanitizer is the easiest way for minors to get their hands on alcohol. Some of the sanitizers have a much higher alcohol percentage than stiff drinks, reported Fox10 TV. Some ingest the sanitizer on a dare or because of peer pressure; others because they want to get drunk.

“As someone whose been in the emergency medicine for a long time, I wasn’t quite surprised. Kids, especially teenagers, they look for new high, new fun,” Emergency Department Director at Christus St. Patrick Hospital, John Kight tells KPLC TV.

This household poison is growing in popularity. As of 2010, around 3,266 related cases were reported. In 2014 the number increased to 16, 117 cases a year, CNN reported. Many children say they like the taste of the flavor sanitizers. Many suggest monitoring behavior and hand sanitizer usage to help reduce the amount of children and teens getting drunk from hand sanitizer. Also stay away from the scented hand sanitizers and look into the alcohol-free foaming sanitizer.