Please stop putting COVID-19 test solution in your eyes and nose, FDA says

The Meals and Drug Administration is alerting Individuals to the potential risks of at-home COVID-19 exams after receiving experiences of individuals egregiously misusing them, leading to accidents.

In a security communication launched Friday, the FDA mentioned it had obtained experiences of accidents after folks used the kits’ liquid take a look at resolution as eye drops or caught the answer up their noses. “The liquid take a look at resolution shouldn’t be supposed to the touch your physique,” the FDA wrote sternly. The company additionally reported that some youngsters had been injured after placing take a look at parts of their mouths and swallowing the answer.

“The liquid options might embrace chemical elements, comparable to sodium azide, that assist the take a look at work correctly or act as preservatives,” the FDA wrote. “The take a look at chemical compounds may be irritating or poisonous in the event that they get in your pores and skin, nostril, or eyes or if they’re swallowed.”

At-home exams all have barely completely different protocols, however they usually contain combining a take a look at resolution and nasal swab samplings on a take a look at card. In Abbott’s widespread BinaxNow take a look at, for instance, persons are instructed to place six drops of a take a look at resolution onto a testing card. Then test-takers swab their noses, insert the swab into the primed take a look at card, seal the cardboard, and wait quarter-hour for outcomes. Within the iHealth COVID-19 take a look at, test-takers swab their noses, swirl the swab in a take a look at resolution, then squeeze three drops of the answer onto a take a look at card and look ahead to outcomes.

In line with the FDA, some folks have put the take a look at resolution onto the swab earlier than swabbing their nostril, ensuing within the take a look at resolution being swirled round their nostrils.

It is unclear how many individuals have been injured by these testing snafus or how critical their accidents had been. Nevertheless, the FDA would really like you to cease it. The company recommends that everybody preserve their take a look at kits out of attain of pets and young children. When you’re prepared to make use of your equipment, learn the instructions and comply with them. The company additionally helpfully recommends that you just “preserve the liquid resolution away from the pores and skin, nostril, mouth, and eyes. Don’t swallow the liquid resolution,” and “use solely the swab within the take a look at equipment to gather a nasal pattern.”

“FDA approved at-home COVID-19 exams have grow to be an necessary and handy instrument that folks can use to verify in the event that they or a member of the family are at the moment contaminated with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19,” the regulator notes. They’re additionally completely protected to make use of—once you comply with the instructions.