Freiburg (dpa / lsw) – An increasing number of emergency calls and inquiries is currently being received by the employees of the nationwide poisoning information center in Freiburg. With the Corona crisis, the main topics had also changed, said the director of the facility, Maren Hermanns-Clausen. The poison emergency call is now more often than usual about disinfectants, soaps, dish and glass cleaners and similar substances. Children are most often affected. Household products such as cleaners or disinfectants would be drunk by them or get into the eyes. Small children also tried medicines and parts of plants in the home.
The facility located at Freiburg University Hospital is responsible for all of Baden-Württemberg. She runs a poison emergency call around the clock. Since the beginning of the year, 1,400 calls have been recorded more than in the comparable period of the previous year, said Hermanns-Clausen. The corona crisis is not the only trigger. However, it had contributed significantly to the increasing number of calls, above all by increasing the number of poisoning accidents in private households. In contrast, the number of calls for suicide attempts and drug abuse remained almost the same.
“We feel that people are staying at home and that there are now resources in the household that were previously not available in this quantity,” said the doctor. The risk that poisonous substances are not used correctly or get into the hands of children has increased: “It is mostly about children between six months and four years of age who have taken medication and may thus become an emergency.” Usually the concerned parents called. Calls for disinfectants have increased in the past weeks by around 40 percent compared to the same period in the previous year, and the number even doubled in April.
The poisoning information center advises citizens, but also medical personnel, primarily from hospitals and emergency services. The proportion of citizens who call for poisoning cases has increased significantly in the Corona crisis, said the head. In addition, they now called more frequently in the evening and at night. Last year, the poison emergency number reported 28,500 calls, two thirds of the callers were laypeople. Disinfectants were only involved in two percent of the 2019 cases.
“Anyone who calls us should take the pack of the product on hand,” said Hermanns-Clausen. The experts should know exactly what the product is. This would enable them to better assess the danger and help quickly in an emergency.
There are eight such poisoning information centers nationwide. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, pharmaceuticals and household products form the main part of the inquiries. In addition to children, older people are also affected by accidents with these agents.
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