A thief spotted drinking hand sanitiser was motivated by Donald Trump's suggestion that it could cure COVID-19, according to a deputy mayor.
The US president came under fire last week for talking about injecting disinfectant to treat coronavirus, although he later claimed he was being sarcastic.
However, his comments now appear to have had a very real impact as a man in Romania has been spotted drinking hand sanitiser.
CCTV filmed the individual drinking from a wall-mounted hand disinfectant bottle and then coming back a short while later to allegedly steal the bottle.
The black-and-white footage shows him pumping the liquid into his hand.
He then raises his hand to his mouth, apparently drinking the sanitiser, before walking away while looking around for cameras, although he seems to miss the one above his head.
A few seconds later he returns and appears to steal the entire bottle.
The deputy mayor of the Romanian city of Suceava thinks the man was inspired by the President's words.
Deputy mayor Lucian Kharshovski said the footage was captured by CCTV camera in one of the apartment buildings run by the city council.
Mr Kharshovski, who shared the video online, said: "I wonder if this guy has listened to Trump's advice on disinfectant?
"If you recognise the character, please tag him in the post to see if he's okay and healthy.
"No kidding, he seems to like it."
After Trump made his statement, medics across the world warned that many disinfectants contain toxic chemicals which could be poisonous to the human body if ingested or injected.
A number of people are reported to have started drinking the hand disinfectant because of its alcohol content.
In South Africa recently, politicians warned that the ban on alcohol in order to lower the number of hospital admissions and free up beds meant alcoholics had resorted to drinking disinfectant because of its alcohol content.
