Swallowing even small doses of eye drops and nasal decongestant sprays can be life-threatening for small children, health experts from Food and Drug Administration (FDA), concerned about the adverse side effects associated with these products warn parents.
"In the hands of young children, who are apt to swallow them, they can cause serious health consequences," pharmacist Yelena Maslov, Pharm.D., at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said in a statement appeared on the official website of the agency.
The over-the-counter products available under different names like Visine, Dristan and Mucinex, contain active ingredients of imidazoline derivatives (tetrahydrozoline, oxymetazoline, or naphazoline), have been associated with serious side effects like lethargy, vomiting and coma when consumed.
According to the experts, swallowing even 1 mL to 2 mL can pose serious health risks (one teaspoon of eye drops is equal to 5 ml) for small children.
The current announcement comes after the authorities looked at 96 cases of children as young as one and five swallowing the medicines and being rushed to emergency departments, between 1985 and 2012.
Even though, deaths are not reported, a significant number of children (53) were reported to be admitted to the hospital for vomiting, tachycardia (fast heart beat), lethargy (sleepiness) and coma.
"Children who swallow even miniscule amounts of these products can have serious adverse effects," Maslov explained.
Following are some tips from FDA to avoid such incidents in future:
* Keep the medicines out of the reach of children
* Do not keep medicines on a kitchen counter or near a sick kid's bedside
* Extra precaution should be taken to re-lock medicine bottles without safety cap
* Do not take medicines on the child's presence, to avoid the tendency to mimic adult
* Babysitters, visitors and houseguests should be recommended to keep their bag, purses or coats with medicines out of the children's reach
For any accidental incidents of swallowing these medicines, parents should seek the help of local poison control center (1-800-222-1222).
