The Food and Drug Administration is warning Americans about the potential dangers of home COVID-19 testing after receiving reports of people grossly abusing them, resulting in injuries.
In a safety statement released Friday, the FDA said it had received reports of injuries after people used the kits’ liquid test solution as eye drops or put the solution in their noses. “The liquid test solution should not touch your body,” the FDA wrote sternly. The agency also reported that some children were injured after putting test components in their mouths and swallowing the solution.
“The liquid solutions may contain chemical ingredients, such as sodium azide, that help the test work properly or act as a preservative,” the FDA wrote. “The test chemicals can be irritating or toxic if they get on your skin, nose or eyes, or if they are ingested.”
Home tests all have slightly different protocols, but they often involve combining a test solution and nasal swabs on a test card. For example, in Abbott’s popular BinaxNow test, people are instructed to put six drops of a test solution on a test card. Then, the test subjects take out their noses, insert the swab into the prepared test card, seal the card and wait 15 minutes for the results. In the iHealth COVID-19 test, test subjects clean their nose, twist the swab in a test solution, then squeeze three drops of the solution onto a test card and wait for the results.
According to the FDA, some people have put the test solution on the swab before wipe their noses, swirling the test solution around their nostrils.
It is unclear how many people were injured in these tests and how serious their injuries were. However, the FDA wants you to stop taking it. The agency recommends that everyone keep their test kits out of the reach of pets and small children. Once you are ready to use your kit, read and follow the directions. The agency also helpfully recommends that you “keep the liquid solution away from the skin, nose, mouth and eyes. Do not swallow the liquid solution” and “use only the cotton swab in the test kit to take a nasal sample. “
“FDA-authorized home COVID-19 testing has become an important and useful tool that people can use to check if they or a family member is currently infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19,” the statement said. supervisor. notes. They are also completely safe to use, if you follow the directions.
