Days after US President Donald Trump suggested 'injecting bleach' to fight coronavirus, Cristina Cuomo, wife of CNN host Chris Cuomo, suggested bleach bath as a possible cure from COVID-19.
Last month, it was found that Cristina along with her husband and their 14-year old son Mario, had tested positive for the fatal virus. Few days ago, while Chris confirmed than he has recovered from the virus, Cristina said that she was 'feeling fine.'
Cristina defends bleach bath as cure for coronavirus
Last week, Cristina, the founder of the health and wellness platform, The Purist , wrote on the blog about the remedies undertaken by her family to recover from coronavirus. Among other things, she recommended baths using disinfecting Clorox bleach, a move that invited widespread criticism from medical experts.
In her post, the self-proclaimed wellness expert said that she took a bath with water consisting of one quarter of a cup of Clorox Bleach. Stating that the bleach bath helped in increasing the oxygen levels in the body, she said: "I'm not suggesting anyone follow this, but I wanted to share my experience. At the direction of my doctor, Dr. Linda Lancaster, who reminded me that this is an oxygen-depleting virus, she suggested I take a bath to combat the radiation and pollutants in the system and oxygenate it," she wrote.
Defending her 'bleach bath treatment' Cristina, told People magazine:
"There's a huge opposition against holistic medicine, I get that. None of these natural remedies below should be taken without consulting a doctor or naturopath. [But] if there's a potential for something to work, why not investigate it?
"Who knows if it worked or what it did, but I know that in nine days, I got most of that virus out of my system. This being a virus with no vaccination and no cure, my resolution was to learn as much as I can, go to my same doctor Linda Lancaster and follow her protocol, her prescription. And no way am I saying please try this. It's just the path that I took and I'm sharing it because there isn't a lot of anecdotal evidence.
"We are all trying to find tools to help beat this. The fact is, there are no standardized treatments for this virus. My hope is to share information and alternatives that many might not have access to and are interested in hearing about. Access to healthcare and medicine is not a privilege, it is a human right. Regardless of accessibility, I wanted to give my immune system a fighting chance," she told the publication."
Doctors strictly advise against taking 'bleach baths'
Usually used to clean households and stain removals, bleach gained a lot of popularity after Trump's 'bleach injections' gaffe. Though the US President said that he was being satirical while suggesting them, the statement made a lot of medical professionals speak against its human use.
Speaking to Science Times, Dr. Dean Hart, a microbiologist, said:
"While us in science do not like to speak in absolutism, I have never heard, ever, of a bleach bath being recommended for the treatment of any disease. Don't do that. It is not a good idea, in fact, it's a bad idea. It could hurt you. The air becomes toxic around a bleach or chlorine bath. This has the potential to be very harmful, whether you are observing through your skin or breathing.
"While bleach is useful in the clothes-washer and chlorine disinfects swimming pools, it's not meant for the body. Dense bleach could kill you. I have never heard of this before and would not recommend it."
Speaking toCBS News, Dr. Sachin Nagrani, the medical director at telehealth company Heal, said that diluted bleach bath might not be useful in treating coronavirus. "There is some evidence that chronic eczema may benefit from bathing with a small quantity of bleach diluted in water (around ¼ cup bleach in 40 gallons). However, bathing with bleach is not shown to benefit any other condition, and ingesting or injecting bleach is dangerous," he added.
Trump's statement also forced the manufacturer of Lysol to issue a public statement announcing that 'under no circumstance should their disinfectant products be administered into the human body through any route.'
