Many cases of alcohol poisoning and most of them have high levels of methanol in their blood.
Recently, the number of alcohol poisoning cases has increased dramatically. Many poisoning cases recorded patients using alcohol mixed with industrial alcohol (methanol) or fake alcohol of unknown origin and source containing high levels of methanol. In particular, there were alcoholic patients who bought alcohol to mix with alcohol to drink, leading to methanol poisoning. Especially during the holidays when large amounts of alcohol and beer are consumed along with the habit of drinking a lot and not controlling, the cases of alcohol poisoning increase sharply.
On February 12, 2025, the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases provided emergency treatment to patient LQĐ. (61 years old, residing in Me Linh, Hanoi) who was in a coma due to alcohol poisoning, with a high mortality rate. The family said that before that, on the occasion of Tet, Mr. Đ. often met friends, drank alcohol continuously and hardly ate or drank. Also in February 2025, the Department of Investigation Police on Social Order Crimes, Quang Nam Provincial Police, executed decisions to prosecute the case, prosecute the accused and issue a temporary detention order against LTG (residing in Cam Nam Ward, Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province) to investigate the crime of "Violating food safety regulations". Previously, LTG, in his role as a bartender at a restaurant in Hoi An City, used 70-degree medical alcohol mixed with alcohol, causing two foreigners to die after drinking. At the end of 2024, an incident occurred in which 6 people ate and drank alcohol at a snakehead fish noodle shop in Vung Tau city, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province. After eating, 4 people had to be hospitalized due to suspected alcohol poisoning. After this incident, the Department of Food Safety, Ministry of Health issued an urgent document directing the handling of the suspected alcohol poisoning case...
For the Hanoi Forensic Center, there are many appraisal records of cases related to alcohol poisoning. Talking to reporters, Master Pham Huy Hoang - Appraiser, Head of the General Testing Department, Hanoi Forensic Center said that recently, the Center has appraised many cases of alcohol poisoning and some cases with high levels of methanol in the blood.
“We have a typical case of a victim who died from drinking fake alcohol right in Hanoi, not far away. According to the records, at around 5am on June 12, 2024, Ms. LTX entered the bedroom of her husband, Mr. LTT (address in Kim Ma ward, Ba Dinh, Hanoi) and discovered Mr. LTT lying motionless on the bed. Ms. LTX asked but Mr. LTT did not answer, so she called the emergency service. When the 115 emergency service arrived, it was determined that Mr. LTT had died.
The police investigation agency has verified, investigated, and clarified the case, and requested the Hanoi Forensic Center to determine the cause of death. The Hanoi Forensic Center did not find ethanol in the victim's blood sample, but the methanol concentration was very high, up to 164 mg/100 ml of blood (a methanol concentration of 20 mg/100 ml in the blood caused poisoning). The investigation agency collected at the scene a 500 ml white plastic bottle containing about 100 ml of a colorless solution. The results of the analysis of the above solution sample showed that there was methanol at a concentration of 75o, no ethanol. The victim was concluded to have died from methanol poisoning," said Master Pham Huy Hoang.
Don't die from fake alcohol
According to Master Pham Huy Hoang, methanol - commonly known as industrial alcohol - is the simplest alcohol with the formula CH3OH. While ethanol is fermented from starch such as cereals, tubers containing starch or sugar, methanol is fermented from raw materials containing cellulose (wood). Although methanol is a substance produced during the fermentation process, methanol itself is less toxic, but its metabolites are very toxic. When entering the body, methanol is metabolized by alcohol dehydrogenase - an enzyme that metabolizes alcohol in the liver, creating formaldehyde (33 times more toxic than methanol) causing clinical symptoms. Formaldehyde is then quickly metabolized into formic acid. Formic acid is considered the culprit in cases of methanol poisoning, causing damage to the retina, damage to the optic nerve, leading to blindness. More dangerously, it also causes brain damage, which can lead to death.
“Methanol mainly affects the central nervous system with symptoms of drunkenness, drowsiness, stupor, convulsions or coma. Methanol content exceeding the permitted level can lead to poisoning for users. National technical regulations for alcoholic beverage products (QCVN 6-3:2010/BYT) and National standards for white wine (TCVN 7043:2013) stipulate that the methanol content in wine must not exceed 100 mg/liter of 100-degree alcohol. In the case of the LTT victim in Hanoi mentioned above, the sample examination results only showed methanol at a concentration of 75o, no ethanol. It can be said that the use of fake wine led to the victim's death,” according to Master Pham Huy Hoang.
It is important to note that alcohol is mainly composed of ethanol, with the chemical formula C2H5OH, while methanol has the chemical formula CH3OH. Both types of alcohol are fermented and distilled. However, while ethanol is fermented from starch or sugar, methanol is fermented from materials containing cellulose (wood). Alcohol poisoning occurs when a person drinks too much ethanol in a short period of time or drinks poor quality alcohol containing methanol, leading to too much alcohol in the blood. Alcohol poisoning is one of the causes of mental disorders, traffic accidents, death, etc.
Faced with the situation of alcohol abuse and use of alcohol of unknown origin, due to some establishments buying industrial alcohol to mix into alcohol, the Ministry of Health has recommended that consumers absolutely do not buy and use floating alcohol, without labels and without published standards to prevent poisoning.
The best way to prevent methanol poisoning from drinking alcohol is to not drink alcohol.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Yen - Director of the Hanoi Forensic Center, methanol is a very toxic alcohol, not allowed to be used in wine. This type of alcohol is often used in industry, in laboratories as a solvent... However, in reality, there is still a natural methanol content produced when producing wine, but in very low amounts. However, in recent cases of poisoning due to methanol-containing wine, most of the methanol content in the wine exceeded the permitted level by hundreds, even thousands of times.
According to Ms. Yen, the worrying thing is that many people today are still not aware of fake alcohol and lack the knowledge to identify alcohol originating from industrial alcohol. In terms of identification, methanol is very similar to regular ethanol, even sweeter and easier to drink. When first drinking, the drinker also feels like being drunk, so it is easy to be confused. However, after drinking, the patient will have symptoms of blurred vision, drowsiness, rapid breathing and deep breathing similar to difficulty breathing due to metabolic acidosis, convulsions, coma, in critical condition...
“The best way to prevent methanol poisoning from alcohol is to not drink alcohol. If you cannot refuse, limit your drinking and only drink alcohol of clear origin, do not drink floating alcohol, fake alcohol, alcohol with unproven origin, do not drink alcohol soaked with leaves, roots, animal organs of unknown toxicity or alcohol soaked based on personal experience, do not drink alcohol when hungry, tired or taking medication, children should not drink alcohol or beer,” Ms. Yen emphasized.
Source: https://baophapluat.vn/tinh-tao-khi-uong-ruou-dung-de-ruou-uong-minh-post542551.html
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