US health authorities issued a formal warning on Wednesday against drinking hand sanitiser, after four people died from methanol poisoning in May and June this year.
A further 12 people in Arizona and New Mexico were hospitalised with methanol poisoning from swallowing hand sanitiser, according to a US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report published on Wednesday.
Of the 15 hospitalised, six patients developed seizures, three were discharged with a visual impairment and four have died.
CDC says hand sanitiser has become a vital part of the US response of COVID-19 and should only contain ethanol or isopropanol.
But some products imported to the US have been found to contain methanol.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates alcohol-based hand sanitizers as an over-the-counter drug, methanol is not an acceptable ingredient.
"Adolescents or adults with a history of alcohol use disorder might intentionally swallow these products as an alcohol substitute," the report said.
"Alcohol-based hand sanitiser products should never be ingested."
"In patients with compatible signs and symptoms or after having swallowed hand sanitiser, prompt evaluation for methanol poisoning is required."
Cases of methanol poisoning include effects of a headache, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, loss of coordination, and decreased level of consciousness.
