Unfortunately, not only are many products a waste of money, they can be dangerous to your health or even deadly. The surest steps doctors advise people to avoid getting sick from the new coronavirus are the ones you’ve been hearing over and over again that are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other reputable medical groups. They include:
Wash your hands (for at least 20 seconds) frequently.Avoid touching your face with unwashed hands.Clean and disinfect frequently-touched surfaces in your home and work spaces.Avoid contact with people who are sick.Follow social-distancing guidelines, which can help limit the spread of the new coronavirus in asymptomatic individuals.
RELATED: A Coronavirus Checklist: Prepare for the Possibility of Getting Very Sick If you have been exposed to COVID-19 or have any symptoms of the virus, which can include a dry cough and fever, call your healthcare provider so that they may advise you. You not only want to take care of yourself with rest and plenty of fluids, you also want to help prevent the spread of the virus to other people. Many patients who get COVID-19 will have only mild symptoms and will be able to treat themselves at home. According to CDC, you should take the following precautions:
Stay home except to get medical care.Stay in touch with your doctor, and call before you go to the doctor or emergency room.If you have trouble breathing, call your doctor right away.Wear a mask or a cloth covering your nose and mouth.Cover coughs or sneezes and wash your hands often.
RELATED: Your Everyday Guide to Telemedicine Experts warn that the following remedies do not have evidence to show that they either help prevent or treat COVID-19. What’s more, these following remedies may pose other risks to your health:
1. Chloroquine
Also known as chloroquine phosphate, the antimalarial medicine has been tried on people with severe COVID-19 in some very small studies in China and France, says Tod Cooperman, MD, president and founder of ConsumberLab.com, a provider of independent test results and information designed to help consumers and healthcare professionals identify the best-quality health and nutrition products. The results of those trials have been mixed, and there are more formal trials currently being held in the United States, he says. “Currently, there’s no evidence that this is going to help you if you get COVID-19,” says Dr. Cooperman. Although chloroquine is being studied and monitored in trials, people should not try ingesting it at home outside of the direction of a doctor because it can be quite dangerous, especially in very high doses, says Erin Donnelly Michos, MD, director of women’s cardiovascular health and associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. Chloroquine can cause serious arrhythmias, sedation, and even comas. CNN reported on March 25 that an Arizona couple tried to self-medicate with fish tank cleaner that contained chloroquine phosphate after hearing reports that it might help treat COVID-19. The husband died and the wife is in critical condition. It is not safe to self-medicate with untested treatments, Dr. Michos says. “People should not try this in any form as a home remedy,” she adds. RELATED: Scientists Fast-Track Research for Coronavirus Treatment and Vaccine
2. Silver Solution or Colloidal Silver
“This is a liquid with little specks of silver that you can purchase as a dietary supplement,” says Michos. Silver is not an essential mineral — as opposed to zinc, which is needed (in small amounts) for immune health and healing, she says. “Silver has no function in the body, therefore it’s not a useful dietary supplement, and it actually can be dangerous to people’s health,” she says. RELATED: What You Need to Know About Supplements and COVID-19 Risk A lot of companies are trying to sell “snake oil” cures right now, and this is one of them, says Michos. “Although people like the idea of a natural solution to cure this virus, it’s important to remember that many things found in nature aren’t beneficial to your health and can harm you,” she says. For example, tobacco and arsenic are both natural, but they can both definitely be very dangerous, Michos says. “Just because something is found in nature doesn’t mean it’s safe.” If silver builds up in your body in high amounts it can actually cause the skin to turn blue-grey, a condition called argyria, which can be permanent, says Michos. “Even if that’s just a cosmetic problem, there are other risks to health. It can cause can poor absorption of some drugs and antibiotics,” she says. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warning letters to some makers of silver solution that were promoting the mixture as a way to treat COVID-19, stating “The FDA considers the sale and promotion of fraudulent COVID-19 products to be a threat to the public health.”
3. ‘Bleach Kits’ or Chlorine Dioxide Kits
These solutions are often called “miracle mineral solution” or “miracle mineral supplement” (MMS) and are made by mixing sodium chlorite solution with an acid such as lemon juice. The FDA issued a strong warning about these products in 2019, advising consumers that they are “drinking bleach” and stated: “Sodium chlorite products are dangerous, and you and your family should not use them.” According to the agency, consumers have reported severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration, and acute liver failure after drinking these products. These solutions have been falsely marketed as being helpful against autism, hepatitis, cancer, flu, and other illnesses, according to the FDA. “These products are an effective way of disinfecting water, but they’re not safe to consume orally. That’s the bottom line,” says Dr. Cooperman. “There may be many things that can kill the virus, but that doesn’t mean you should be ingesting them,” he says. “There is no circumstance in which bleach is okay for human consumption.” The solution kills human tissue, says Michos. “Bleach would burn and damage the esophagus and the stomach, lead to vomiting, and, if you drank enough of it, would actually kill you.” There’s a role for bleach in battling this virus as a cleaning solution to disinfect things, but even then, it needs proper handling, says Michos. To make a cleaning solution you can dilute a small amount of bleach into water, but you need to wear gloves and eye protection when using it. And use it only to wipe down surfaces, she adds. RELATED: Food Safety and COVID-19: A Guide for Handling Groceries and Takeout
4. Spraying Chlorine or Alcohol on Your Body
Chlorine and alcohol are useful to disinfect surfaces to keep the virus from spreading, but spraying those chemicals on your body will not kill COVID-19 if it’s already entered your body, and can be harmful, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Alcohol can be harmful to your eyes and mouth and it’s very hard on your skin, says Michos. “There is a role for alcohol preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the form of hand sanitizer, which is the next best option when soap and water aren’t available,” she says. The gold standard for hand hygiene for the transmission of pathogens, including COVID-19, is hand-washing for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, according to the CDC. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer should have an alcohol content greater than 60 percent ethanol or 70 percent isopropanol, according to the agency.
5. UV Treatments
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation at really high doses has been used to damage viruses, but that doesn’t mean it should be used on people, says Michos. “Some people may have seen on the news that some places are trying to recycle N95 masks by using really high UV to sterilize them, but the level of UV that would actually be required to kill the virus in a person would be extremely dangerous,” she says. “Massive doses of UV are not encouraged for people — that’s why we don’t recommend people go to tanning beds. It can damage the skin and possibly lead to skin cancer,” says Michos. Sunshine or warm weather doesn’t impact whether or not a person can contract COVID-19 either, according to WHO.
6. Megadoses of Vitamin D
Researchers have studied how vitamin D may provide benefit to people with respiratory infections, and some experts believe it may have a role activating the immune system, says Michos. A meta-analysis of prospective trials published in February 2017 in the journal BMJ found that taking a daily dose of vitamin D reduced the odds of developing a respiratory infection in people who were vitamin D deficient, though taking a large bolus once a month showed no benefits. (It’s worth noting that that study found there was a benefit to taking a daily vitamin D supplement only in individuals who were deficient in vitamin D to begin with.) RELATED: Are You Vitamin D Deficient? Everything You Need to Know Megadoses of vitamin D could be potentially harmful because the vitamin is not water-soluble, it’s fat-soluble. That means instead of being passed through the body in urine, extra vitamin D is stored in the body’s fatty tissue. “Toxicity is pretty rare, but it can happen in massive doses,” says Michos. Vitamin D is important for regulating your blood calcium levels; too much of the nutrient may lead to high blood calcium, which can cause kidney stones, constipation, and delirium, she adds.
