Fact Check: "You can cure covid by injecting bleach"
What We Know
The claim that injecting bleach can cure COVID-19 is not only false but also dangerous. During the early days of the pandemic, former President Donald Trump suggested that disinfectants might be a potential treatment for COVID-19, which led to a significant increase in calls to poison control centers across several states (Qamar, 2025). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initially reported that a small percentage of adults (4%) admitted to drinking or gargling diluted bleach solutions (US News). However, a subsequent study found that these reports were likely inflated due to "problematic respondents" in survey data, indicating that no substantial evidence supports the idea that people ingested cleaning products to prevent COVID-19 (Litman et al., 2023).
Analysis
The suggestion to inject bleach as a treatment for COVID-19 has been widely condemned by health experts and organizations. The medical community criticized Trump's comments, emphasizing that disinfectants are toxic and should never be ingested (BBC). Following Trump's remarks, there was a notable spike in poison control calls, with reports of individuals attempting to ingest disinfectants like Lysol and bleach (Qamar, 2025).
While the CDC's initial findings indicated some people did engage in dangerous practices, a more recent study has challenged the validity of those findings. The study conducted by Litman et al. found that when problematic respondents were excluded from the analysis, there was no evidence of widespread ingestion of cleaning products to prevent COVID-19 (Litman et al., 2023). This suggests that while some individuals may have acted on misleading information, the overall prevalence of such behavior was likely overstated.
The reliability of the sources discussing the increase in poison control calls is high, as they are based on official reports from health departments and reputable news outlets. However, the initial CDC data must be viewed with caution due to the potential for bias introduced by problematic respondents in survey methodologies (Litman et al., 2023).
Conclusion
The claim that injecting bleach can cure COVID-19 is False. While there were instances of individuals attempting to use disinfectants based on misleading statements from public figures, the overall evidence does not support the notion that this was a widespread practice. Moreover, health authorities have consistently warned against such dangerous actions, reinforcing the message that bleach and other disinfectants are toxic and should never be ingested.
Sources
- Did people really drink bleach to prevent COVID-19? ... (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10321604/)
- At least 5 states report an increase in calls to poison control ... (https://www.poison.med.wayne.edu/updates-content/kstytapp2qfstf0pkacdxmz943u1hs)
- Outcry after Trump suggests injecting disinfectant as ... - BBC (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52407177)
- Did Americans Actually Drink Bleach During the COVID-19 Pandemic? (https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-07-13/did-americans-actually-drink-bleach-during-the-covid-19-pandemic)
- It's been exactly one year since Trump suggested injecting bleach. We ... (https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/23/trump-bleach-one-year-484399)
- Trump Didn't Tell People to 'Inject Bleach' for COVID-19. But Here's ... (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-inject-bleach-covid-19/)
- Fact Check: Did Trump once tell Americans to inject bleach to ... - WFAE (https://www.wfae.org/politics/2024-04-03/fact-check-did-trump-once-tell-americans-to-inject-bleach-to-fight-covid-19)
