{"id":21677,"date":"2026-03-16T16:30:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/?page_id=21677"},"modified":"2026-03-16T16:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:30:53","slug":"poisoning-response","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/public-health-toxicology\/poisoning-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Poisoning Response"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If someone has swallowed a chemical that could be poisonous or taken a medication not prescribed to them or over the prescribed dose, you should respond quickly.<\/p>\n<h2>Get Help<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>If the person is drowsy or unconscious, having a seizure, extremely agitated, having trouble breathing, or took large amounts of medicines or chemicals on purpose, call\u202f 911.<\/li>\n<li>If the person is acting normal and has no or mild symptoms call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222\u202f.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In both cases they will want to know:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What did they swallow and do you have the container?<\/li>\n<li>How old is the person?<\/li>\n<li>How much do they weigh?<\/li>\n<li>How much did they swallow and how long ago?<\/li>\n<li>What symptoms do they have?<\/li>\n<li>What other medicines do they take and what health problems do they have?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since fast response is needed, call 911 or Poison Control right away, even if you don\u2019t know the answers to all of these questions.<\/p>\n<h2>Poisoning First Aid<\/h2>\n<p>Don\u2019t wait to call for help while you do first aid. If you are able to reach 911 or Poison Control, follow their advice. If you are waiting for a response, follow these guidelines:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Make sure the person doesn\u2019t have more of the medicine or chemical in their mouth. If they swallowed a liquid and are alert, rinse their mouth with room temperature water.<\/li>\n<li>If they got a chemical or medicine in their eyes, rinse with room temperature water for 15-20 minutes. Take out contact lenses.<\/li>\n<li>If they got the chemical or medicine on their clothes or skin, remove the clothes and rinse skin with room temperature water and mild soap for 15 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>If they breathed something poisonous, move them to clean air. <strong>If you can\u2019t move them, do not stay in an area with a poison in the air, since you could be poisoned too. Move out of the area and call 911.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>If you have the container, read it to see if there are any directions on what to do if someone is poisoned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If someone has swallowed a chemical that could be poisonous or taken a medication not prescribed to them or over the prescribed dose, you should respond quickly. Get Help If the person is drowsy or unconscious, having a seizure, extremely agitated, having trouble breathing, or took large amounts of medicines or chemicals on purpose, call\u202f [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":719,"featured_media":0,"parent":7976,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21677","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Poisoning Response - Environmental Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/public-health-toxicology\/poisoning-response\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poisoning Response - Environmental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If someone has swallowed a chemical that could be poisonous or taken a medication not prescribed to them or over the prescribed dose, you should respond quickly. 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