A new social media trend is spurring people to inhale hydrogen peroxide under the illusion that it can prevent or treat COVID-19, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America warned Sept. 21.
Some social media users have posted videos of themselves breathing in the antiseptic through a nebulizer designed to turn liquid asthma medication into a mist. The patient advocacy group called the trend "dangerous and alarming," and said inhaling other chemicals through a nebulizer can damage the lungs.
Posts spreading this misinformation on Facebook, YouTube and TikTok have already garnered hundreds of thousands of views, the allergy group's Chief Mission officer Melanie Carver told The Washington Post.
"Before this information spreads further, we want people with asthma to know how important it is to only use their prescribed asthma treatments in their nebulizers,” Ms. Carver told The Post.