Acute kidney injury secondary to chlorine dioxide use for COVID-19 prevention

Can nasal irrigation with chlorine dioxide be considered as a potential alternative therapy for respiratory infectious diseases? The example of COVID-19

Chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) is a high-level disinfectant that is safe and widely used for sterilization. Due to the limitations on preparing a stable solution, direct use of ClO₂ in the human body is limited. Nasal irrigation is an alternative therapy used to treat respiratory infectious diseases. This study briefly summarizes the available evidence regarding the safety/efficacy of directly using ClO₂ on the human body as well as the approach of nasal irrigation to treat COVID-19. Based on the available information, as well as a preliminary experiment that comprehensively evaluated the efficacy and safety of ClO₂, 25-50 ppm was deemed to be an appropriate concentration of ClO₂ for nasal irrigation to treat COVID-19. This finding requires further verification. Nasal irrigation with ClO₂ can be considered as a potential alternative therapy to treat respiratory infectious diseases, and COVID-19 in particular.

Misinformation About and Interest in Chlorine Dioxide During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico Identified Using Google Trends Data: Infodemiology Study

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the increasing popularity of several emerging therapies or preventives that lack scientific evidence or go against medical directives. One such therapy involves the consumption of chlorine dioxide, which is commonly used in the cleaning industry and is available commercially as a mineral solution. This substance has been promoted as a preventive or treatment agent for several diseases, including SARS-CoV-2 infection. As interest in chlorine dioxide has grown since the start of the pandemic, health agencies, institutions, and organizations worldwide have tried to discourage and restrict the consumption of this substance.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to analyze search engine trends in Mexico to evaluate changes in public interest in chlorine dioxide since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

We retrieved public query data for the Spanish equivalent of the term "chlorine dioxide" from the Google Trends platform. The location was set to Mexico, and the time frame was from March 3, 2019, to February 21, 2021. A descriptive analysis was performed. The Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn tests were used to identify significant changes in search volumes for this term between four consecutive time periods, each of 13 weeks, from March 1, 2020, to February 27, 2021.

RESULTS

From the start of the pandemic in Mexico (February 2020), an upward trend was observed in the number of searches compared with that in 2019. Maximum volume trends were recorded during the week of July 19-25, 2020. The search volumes declined between September and November 2020, but another peak was registered in December 2020 through February 2021, which reached a maximum value on January 10. Percentage change from the first to the fourth time periods was +312.85, -71.35, and +228.18, respectively. Pairwise comparisons using the Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn tests showed significant differences between the four periods (P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Misinformation is a public health risk because it can lower compliance with the recommended measures and encourage the use of therapies that have not been proven safe. The ingestion of chlorine dioxide presents a danger to the population, and several adverse reactions have been reported. Programs should be implemented to direct those interested in this substance to accurate medical information.