Doctors have discovered a common treatment to slow the effects of methanol poisoning.
It comes after six people died after a mass methanol poisoning in Laos, including Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles.
Methanol – which is a chemical building block for hundreds of everyday products, including plastics, paints, car parts and building materials – is often deliberately added to alcoholic beverages as a cheaper alternative to ethanol, the normal alcohol used in beverages. alcoholic.
According to the Methanol Institute, this usually happens in countries and territories where taxes on ethanol are seen as too high – such as Bali, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.
The institute says methanol poisoning can be treated successfully if diagnosed within 10-30 hours of ingestion and recommends seeking medical attention at a hospital with dialysis equipment.
Surprisingly, doctors have found that alcohol can help those suffering from methanol poisoning.
Alcohol works because the body will prioritize the metabolism of ethanol over methanol.
Methanol becomes dangerous when it is processed by the liver, this process releases toxic chemicals into the body causing organ damage.
So, by drinking alcohol, methanol poisoning can be delayed and the body has time to get rid of methanol safely through sweat or urine.
In more extreme cases, a patient may be kept “lightly intoxicated” while other treatments such as dialysis, which cleans the blood, are used.
Some patients can be kept intoxicated for up to a week while doctors treat methanol poisoning.
Professor Alastair Hay, an expert in environmental toxicology at the University of Leeds, said alcohol works to stop methanol from being processed by the liver, giving the body time to get rid of the poison.
“It delays the metabolism of methanol,” he told the Daily Mail.
“If the poisoning is not too severe and only blood tests will determine this, ethanol alone may suffice.”
Dr. Knut Erik Hovda of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said it was critical to get help quickly after drinking methanol.
“You can alleviate all the effects if you go to hospital early enough and that hospital has the necessary treatment,” he told the BBC, before adding “the most important antidote is regular alcohol”.
Mass methanol poisoning rocks Laos tourist hotspot
Six people have died after a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos in a tragedy that has shocked the world.
Jones and Bowles, both 19, died within a day of each other after consuming methanol-laced liquor on November 12.
Danish women Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, American James Louis Hutson, 57, and British lawyer Simone White have been named as the other victims.
They were all staying in the resort town of Vang Vieng on the Banana Pancake Trail, a popular backpacking route for budget travelers.
Vang Vieng has a reputation as a party town and many bars freely distribute and supply drugs to a mostly young and hedonistic clientele.
Tragically, a doctor who treated Bowles said she went from a state of confusion to a coma within half an hour of arriving at his medical center in Vang Vieng.
Dr. Yaher, from Vang Vieng District Hospital, said The Times: “She was confused and sleepy. We asked her what she had eaten or drunk, but she didn’t know what had happened.”
Yaher thought he might have taken a lot of cannabis-infused tires and put it on a drip.
“We put him on an IV drip and gave him vitamins. But after 30 minutes, she had a seizure and went into a coma. I was so surprised. We gave her CPR because she was having difficulty breathing and we intubated her and referred her to (a hospital in Vientiane),” he said.
On Tuesday, police arrested eight “staff and management” of Nana Backpackers Hostel, where Jones and Bowles had been staying.
Staff have previously denied they supplied contaminated alcohol to the backpackers and there is no suggestion the detainees are responsible for the deaths.
The arrests, however, are only in connection with the deaths of Coyman, Sorensen and Hutson. Police did not name the other three deaths.
The hostel was ordered closed last week and has not reopened.
Tips for travelers
Australian man Colin Ahearn, who runs the Facebook advice page Just Don’t Drink Spirits in Bali, has advocated for travelers to only drink single-serve drinks while abroad – such as bottled beer or pre-sealed cans .
Ahearn previously told news.com.au that once methanol begins to take over someone who has consumed the chemical, a relatively small amount can be fatal.
“The initial signs will be blurred vision and about 99 percent of victims will have irregular breathing,” he said.
“They will have stomach aches and diarrhea… and disorientation will strike. They will also want to sleep, and then what happens … it basically embalms you.”
Ahearn said a single dose of methanol is enough to cause blindness, and while everyone processes the chemical differently — if someone weighed about 60 kg (132 lbs) and drank twice the drink — “it would if the light was off and enough to kill you. “.
Ahearn said that to avoid poisoning while traveling abroad in places like Bali, Laos or Thailand, travelers should only buy alcohol from reputable places and stores, avoid pre-mixed drinks or cocktails that aren’t poured in front of you, and don’t to get. included in cheap prices or free drinks because low costs may indicate a home brew rather than a reputable distillery.
#Doctors #unveil #surprising #treatment #methanol #poisoning #tourists #die #Laos
Image Source : nypost.com