[HN Gopher] Deadly infection linked to contaminated room spray s...
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Deadly infection linked to contaminated room spray sold at Walmart
Author : vanilla-almond
Score : 116 points
Date : 2021-10-24 21:00 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.statnews.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.statnews.com)
| neilv wrote:
| That's a tragic thing to happen.
|
| But great detective work.
|
| I think it restores some faith in humanity and our systems, to be
| reminded that people are still out there, investigating problems
| like this, coordinating recalls before other people get sick, and
| presumably following up on the root causes.
| [deleted]
| iJohnDoe wrote:
| Interesting that a product that is probably mostly water being
| made in India that typical has a shortage of fresh water
| available to humans.
| pengaru wrote:
| In the sense that one might expect water more likely to be
| contaminated from such a place? Or are you referring to the
| export of a scarce resource?
| pengaru wrote:
| "Chamomile Essential Oil Infused Aromatherapy Room Spray with
| Gemstones"
|
| With _GEMSTONES_ , please just kill me already.
| Ansil849 wrote:
| What does that even mean, in context here? Did the can have
| gemstones on it? Were there gemstones inside? Wtf?
| danans wrote:
| As a general note, room air freshener sprays do nothing to
| freshen the air in your room. For that, you must remove the
| pollutant source and introduce cleaner air.
| servytor wrote:
| Febreze actually does trap 'odorous' molecules though[0].
|
| [0]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
| science/wp/2...
| themodelplumber wrote:
| Let me guess: We shouldn't get you started on new car smell :-)
| version_five wrote:
| As I understand, new car smell is actually all kinds of toxic
| volatile chemicals that are off gassing from the newly made
| plasticy parts of the interior. I have a very good sense of
| smell (and am generally a wimp / easily irritated by solvent
| or volatile organic chemical smells) and I've had some new
| cars I had to drive for weeks with the windows open to avoid
| a headache.
| mrfusion wrote:
| Why is it that any other product only has a new smell for a
| couple days at most? Yet a car has the new car smell for
| months.
| amelius wrote:
| As a sidenote, while browsing I came across the disorder
| known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, but found out that
| it is not recognized or explained by mainstream medicine.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_chemical_sensitivity
| bobthechef wrote:
| "There are dozens of us! DOZENS!"
| lostlogin wrote:
| As someone who has worked in ED, the best remedy is to rub
| tiger balm or tea tree oil under your nose. Once your eyes are
| watering and your sense of smell obliterated, you're ready for
| action.
| aspenmayer wrote:
| Hand sanitizer works in a pinch as well but is very harsh to
| inhale and I'm not certain it's even safe, but it does work.
| pixl97 wrote:
| Some odors are more persistent such as the chemicals that treat
| furniture. They aren't so much bad smell, but ones people would
| rather cover.
| paraph1n wrote:
| Is that always true? I know nothing about air freshener sprays
| (and do not use them), but I could imagine a spray which
| contains heavy particles that trap other lighter airborne
| particles and drag them to the ground. Or a spray which
| chemically neutralizes certain other foul-odor-causing
| chemicals.
| Blackthorn wrote:
| It's definitely not always true. Car products like car bomb
| will kill the odor. You'll be breathing in the product for a
| couple weeks, but a couple weeks later it will be gone.
| 1MachineElf wrote:
| >I could imagine a spray which contains heavy particles that
| trap other lighter airborne particles and drag them to the
| ground.
|
| That's how febreze is supposed to work:
|
| >As Febreze dries, more and more of the odor molecules bind
| to the cyclodextrin, lowering the concentration of the
| molecules in the air and eliminating the odor. If water is
| added once again, the odor molecules are released, allowing
| them to be washed away and truly removed.
|
| Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/how-febreze-works-facts-
| and-chemis...
| ttul wrote:
| A HEPA air purifier combined with cleaning the floor goes a
| long way...
| redisman wrote:
| This is the opposite of a HEPA filter as it's emitting
| particles into the air
| version_five wrote:
| When I was in university, I lived in a residence and there were
| two girls down the hall that smoked constantly and had a bunch
| of air fresheners going, with the overall effect being a
| disgustingly cloying mix of tobacco and synthetic berries or
| whatever. I've experienced the same thing with those bathroom
| fresheners where people think spraying them will cover up the
| smell they produced, and you end up with this revolting mix of
| poo and air freshener.
|
| Overall, I'd almost always rather smell the actual thing being
| covered than the smell of it being mixed with air freshener,
| and I assume, bacteria contamination aside, it's a lot
| healthier not to breath in whatever the fresheners are giving
| off
| dougSF70 wrote:
| I agree. My view is; if you can make the bathroom smell,
| where can you?
| clairity wrote:
| i have a neighbor (or three) that smokes weed and another
| that burns incense. the combo sometimes infiltrates my
| apartment (through the closet, where i think there is a
| hole). combined with the old building smell that's embedded
| in the framing, it's an awful mix of air pollutants. one of
| my air purifiers does double duty between the closet and the
| kitchen to combat this very problem.
|
| with that said, activated charcoal (which my purifiers
| include, though undersized) is more suited to smells
| (molecular size) than hepa filters (particulate matter, which
| is generally much larger) are. hepa in the bathroom would
| deal with airborne bacteria but not the poo smell, which
| would require activated charcoal (a lot of it, along with an
| uncomfortably powerful fan) to be really effective.
| marginalia_nu wrote:
| It's not like it's impossible to remove odors with chemical
| means. A very concrete example: The way lingering smoke damage
| is treated after scrubbing off the soot is with ozone. The
| smoke smell is from volatile partially oxidized hydrocarbons,
| and ozone just loves getting rid of an oxygen molecule and
| becoming O^2.
|
| It's at least conceivable that there would be less noxious
| options available than ozone. An old trick is to use vinegar,
| seems to work.
| userbinator wrote:
| Ozone is extremely powerful, there are various "air
| purifiers" that emit small amounts of it and they do work ---
| as long as you don't use too much, since ozone also attacks
| plastics and other things you don't want destroyed along with
| the odourous chemicals.
| bawolff wrote:
| Ozone is toxic to humans. You don't want too much because
| you will literally die.
|
| I am highly doubtful that ozone in safe concentrations will
| do anything. Even at unsafe but not immediately threatening
| concentrations it probably does nothing.
| slimsag wrote:
| I would stay far away from Ozone, dangerous AF.
|
| > Relatively low amounts of ozone can cause chest pain,
| coughing, shortness of breath and, throat irritation. It
| may also worsen chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma
| as well as compromise the ability of the body to fight
| respiratory infections.
|
| Just pick up a vivosun carbon filter on Amazon for $100,
| they're ugly as dirt and made for people growing weed - but
| turn it on for an hour or so and it'll remove most VOCs
| (smells, gasses, etc.) and particulate in your air. Problem
| solved.
| [deleted]
| Ansil849 wrote:
| Who would've thought that buying a concentrated spray of
| chemicals from Walmart and then proceeding to fill your home with
| it was a bad idea?
|
| 'It's sold in Wal-Mart, in America, it _must_ be safe!'
| canada_dry wrote:
| > manufactured in India
|
| The only reason I read the article. I'm glad it wasn't China. We
| really don't need more ratcheting up of conspiracy theories
| pertaining to the Chinese for another decade or so.
| gwright wrote:
| I think you are conflating a couple of ideas in your comment
| making it a bit muddled in my mind.
|
| Actual incidents of product contamination (originating in any
| country/manufacturer) shouldn't be characterized as "conspiracy
| theories", that is just inaccurate, IMHO.
|
| Drawing general conclusions about a particular country or
| industry based on media reports should be done very cautiously
| (confirmation bias, non-random samples, media inaccuracy on
| details etc.) but even then the details of the assertion are
| going to be important in labeling something a "conspiracy
| theory". Could just be statistical illiteracy, sloppy
| reporting, click-bait stories, etc.
|
| I think you were concerned about a single data point being
| extrapolated into a general assertion with no evidence -- that
| happens all the time in the media but I don't think that
| phenomena is best described as a "conspiracy theory".
| canada_dry wrote:
| The article notes: _Burkholderia pseudomallei is classified
| in the U.S. as a Tier 1 select agent -- a pathogen that has
| the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and
| safety -- the CDC has brought the finding to federal law
| enforcement agents_
|
| My observation was pointing out what I figured was an
| inevitable side effect of finding yet another dangerous
| pathogen suddenly appearing.
|
| Sorry my observation has been taken in an unintended context!
| [deleted]
| whatshisface wrote:
| > _manufactured in India_
|
| > _The only reason I read the article_
|
| ... you 're selectively reading news articles depending on
| which country they disparage the regulatory agencies of, but
| accuse others of being biased?
| canada_dry wrote:
| Wow! That's a whole lot you've managed to unpack!!
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(page generated 2021-10-24 23:00 UTC)