SAN ANTONIO – New numbers from poison control centers across the country show they’ve received more than 14,000 phone calls this year about children ingesting hand sanitizer.
The Trouble Shooters learned even ingesting a small amount is enough to give a small child alcohol poisoning.
It’s a gel that quickly kills germs, but small kids don’t always understand that hand sanitizer is not a toy, and it’s certainly not food.
The South Texas Poison Control Center, tucked inside UT Health San Antonio, fields calls from anxious parents when a few squirts of hand sanitizer turn into a trip to the doctor or even the emergency room.
"Children experience the world through their mouths,” explains Dr. Shawn Varney, the center’s medical director.
He says some children lick their fingers before it dries. Other play with an unattended bottle.
"There's stuff in it that can probably really hurt a kid?” reporter Emily Baucum asks.
"That is the problem. Hand sanitizer is typically about 70% ethanol, or alcohol. The kind that you go to the store and purchase to get intoxicated,” Dr. Varney says.
"Hard alcohol?” Baucum asks.
"Yes,” Dr. Varney says.
Across Texas, poison control centers, on average, more than 1,000 calls every year involving small kids.
"In Bexar County, about 100 patients a year are exposed, up to five years of age,” Dr. Varney says. "It doesn't taste very good, so they probably don't do it again."
He recommends keeping hand sanitizer out of reach of small children, especially during busy family gatherings.
If you have any questions, the nurses and pharmacists who man the center’s phones have seen and heard it all.
"Our specialists here are so experienced that they can give you an answer pretty quickly,” Dr. Varney says.
The South Texas Poison Control Center is available around the clock at 1-800-222-1222. The specialists speak both English and Spanish.
By EMILY BAUCUM