Skip to main content

New story in Health from Time: In This Bolivian City, Hard-Hit by the Pandemic, a Fake—and Toxic—Coronavirus Cure Proves Popular



(COCHABAMBA, Bolivia) — Long lines form every morning in one of the Bolivian cities hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic as desperate people wait to buy small bottles of chlorine dioxide, a toxic bleaching agent that has been falsely touted as a cure for COVID-19 and a myriad of other diseases.

The rush in the city of Cochabamba to buy a disinfectant known to cause harm to those who ingest it comes even after the Bolivian Health Ministry warned of its dangers and said at least five people were poisoned after taking chlorine dioxide in La Paz, the capital.

Dr. Antonio Viruez, who is treating the five at a hospital, said one incorrectly believed he had COVID-19 and developed pneumonitis, an inflammation of lung tissue, after taking chlorine dioxide and a medication used to treat parasite infestations. The other patients are improving, he said.

“The Health Ministry cannot risk recommending something that doesn’t have a scientific basis,” said Miguel Ángel Delgado, a senior ministry official.

However, Bolivia’s opposition-controlled congress is promoting the use of chlorine dioxide. Last week, the Senate approved a bill authorizing the emergency “manufacture, marketing, supply and use of chlorine dioxide solution for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus.”

Read more: Mapping the Spread of the Coronavirus Outbreak Around the U.S. and the World

The bill would require the approval of interim President Jeanine Áñez, who is in quarantine after testing positive for the new coronavirus. She has sparred with opposition lawmakers loyal to Evo Morales, the former leader who was forced to resign last year after an election marred by irregularities.

Many fearful residents in Cochabamba, where opposition support is strong, are giving chlorine dioxide a try. Cochabamba has reported about 440 deaths from COVID-19, or one-quarter of the total number of reported deaths in Bolivia. The real toll is believed to be higher.

Virus Outbreak Bolivia
Dico Solis—APHealth workers carry a coffin with the remains of an elderly person who died at the San Jose nursing home in Cochabamba, Bolivia, on July 16, 2020. According to city authorities, 10 elderly people with suspected COVID-19 symptoms have died in the last two weeks at the nursing home.

“I am afraid. I have to try it,” said Andrés Poma, a 34-year-old teacher who is skeptical that beleaguered health services can help him if he gets sick. “What am I going to do? Wait to die at the door of the hospital or at the door of my house?”

Federico Anza, who sells chlorine dioxide at his Cochabamba store, said thousands of people have bought it, consuming it in drops. “My wife and I took it and nothing happened to us,” he said.

He said his clients had not fallen ill after taking the agent, though provincial health authorities reported 10 cases of poisoning from chlorine dioxide in the past week.

The governor of Cochabamba state, Esther Soria, said she supports a plan for a state law authorizing the use of chlorine dioxide and traditional medicine to treat COVID-19. Cochabamba’s mayor, José María Leyes, said he favors the free distribution of the bleaching agent to treat patients.

But Fernando Rengel, president of the Cochabamba’s scientific association, said there are old beliefs that the toxic substance is “miraculous” and cures cancer, AIDS, malaria and other diseases, “but there is no scientific study that proves that it cures any disease.”

Chlorine dioxide is one of a number of fake cures that have been promoted, often by fringe groups online, since the pandemic began.

In April, a federal judge in South Florida ordered a Colombia-based group, the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, to stop selling a related product, Miracle Mineral Solution, in the U.S. Prosecutors said Genesis marketed the solution as a treatment for COVID-19, autism and other ailments.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has previously issued public warnings that MMS can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and severe dehydration.

In April, U.S. President Donald Trump mused about whether disinfectants could be injected or ingested to fight COVID-19, prompting intense blowback from doctors and other health officials.

___

Flores reported from La Paz, Bolivia.

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

New story in Health from Time: Here’s How Quickly Coronavirus Is Spreading in Your State

The novel coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis, a national emergency and a local nightmare. But while a great deal of the focus in the U.S. has been on the federal government’s response, widely criticized as slow and halting , the picture on the ground remains very different in different parts of the country. A TIME analysis of the per capita spread of the epidemic in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. found considerable range in the rate of contagion, and, in some parts of the country, a significant disparity compared to the national figure. The U.S., unlike nations such as South Korea and now Italy , has yet to show signs of bringing the runaway spread of the virus under control. However, while no single state is yet showing strong signs of bending the curve , some are faring much worse than others. The following graphic plots the rise in the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents in each state, plotted by the day that each state reported its first case.
Read more

New story in Health from Time: We Need to Take Care of the Growing Number of Long-term COVID-19 Patients

On July 7, 2020, the Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez tested positive for the new coronavirus. He was scheduled to start Opening Day for the Sox, but the virus had other plans— damaging Rodriguez’s heart and causing a condition called myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle). Now the previously fit 27-year old ace left-hander must sit out the 2020 season to recover. Rodriguez is not alone in having heart damage from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In a new study done in Germany, researchers studied the hearts of 100 patients who had recently recovered from COVID-19. The findings were alarming: 78 patients had heart abnormalities, as shown by a special kind of imaging test that shows the heart’s structure (a cardiac MRI), and 60 had myocarditis. These patients were mostly young and previously healthy . Several had just returned from ski trips. While other studies have shown a lower rate of heart problems—for example, a study of 416 patients hosp
Read more

New story in Health from Time: What We Don’t Know About COVID-19 Can Hurt Us

Countries around the world have introduced stringent control measures to stop COVID-19 outbreaks growing, but now many find themselves facing the same situation again. From Melbourne to Miami, the relaxation of measures had led to increasing flare-ups, which in some places has already meant reclosing schools, businesses or travel routes. Within the U.S. and among different countries , places with wildly varying public-health policies have experienced wildly diverse outcomes. Most ominously, infections are rising rapidly in many places where they once were falling. So how do countries avoid an indefinite, unsustainable, cycle of opening and closing society? What is needed to prevent a future of strict social distancing and closed borders? To escape this limbo, we need to know more about each step in the chain of infection: why some people are more susceptible or have more symptoms, how our interactions and surroundings influence risk, and how we can curb the impact of the re
Read more