Gastrointestinal effects of an attempt to avoid contracting COVID‐19 by ‘disinfection’

Summary In April 2020 during the COVID‐19 pandemic, a 41‐year‐old female presented to the emergency department with recurrent vomiting and abdominal pain that had been ongoing on for two days and additional hematemesis for several hours. The past medical history was unremarkable, except for bariatric gastric bypass surgery performed in 2016. During detailed inquiry the patient reported, she had intentionally taken 10 ml of Ethanol‐containing hand disinfectant orally per diem for a period of over three weeks in fear of being infected with COVID‐19. The product had been obtained from a regular pharmacy and had been produced locally according to WHO standards for hand disinfectan. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed and showed superficial mucosal damage in the oesophagus (Figure 1A), slightly increased mucosal redness in the stomach and severely injured small bowel mucosa with extensive fibrinous exudates (Figure 2A).