A 30-year-old Madrid woman has died of apparent intoxication after cleaning her kitchen for two hours using a product that contains ammonia.
The woman called 112, equivalent to America’s 911 or Britain’s 999, at 3pm on Monday saying she felt faint, according to the emergency services.
But by the time firefighters were dispatched, there was no answer at the door and they had to force entry. The woman was found on the floor of her kitchen suffering cardiac arrest.
Paramedics tried CPR for 30 minutes before declaring the woman dead.
‘Everything points to intoxication from inhaling ammonia,’ a spokesman for the Agency of Security and Emergencies of Madrid said.
The woman called the emergency services at 3pm on Monday from her home in Madrid saying she had been cleaning for two hours and felt faint. She was found in cardiac arrest and later declared dead (pictured: a photo from the scene tweeted by the Madrid emergency services)
Ammonia is commonly found in glass cleaners, oven cleaners and toilet bowl cleaners.
Exposure to high concentrations of the chemical can burn a person’s eyes, nose, and throat. It can also lead to lung failure, heart failure and it can even overpower the brain’s defenses, causing brain damage.
Death from exposure to household cleaning products is rare. Products made for everyday use at home are a diluted form of the chemical. Industrial products, meanwhile, have much higher concentration.
Regardless, users of all kinds of ammonia products are advised to wear gloves to avoid direct contact.
Crucially, people are advised not to mix ammonia products with bleach, a combination which can trigger the release of chlorine gas, which is highly toxic.
Risk of poisoning is higher for people with underlying conditions, such as liver disease.