Sad! Sudden poisoning caused 4 deaths! Just because of eating it by mistake, we must pay attention to it in our lives

Expert of this article: Pa Lize, Chief Physician of Nutrition, Science Popularization Committee Member of Chinese Nutrition Society

This article was reviewed by Du Jiefu, chief physician, professor, and doctor of medicine, Emergency Department, PLA General Hospital

Whether it is a wedding, funeral, or a gathering with family and friends, wine is always present.

But just two days ago, a heartbreaking incident happened because of "drinking".

At a funeral banquet in Luzhou, Sichuan, someone mistakenly took stored alcohol-based fuel as edible liquor and provided it to the guests, causing methanol poisoning in some of the diners. Four people died and another 13 are being observed and treated in the hospital, but their lives are not in danger for the time being.

Image source: Screenshot released by Luzhou

Like wine but not wine! So what is alcohol-based fuel? How harmful is alcohol-based fuel (methanol)? This sudden tragedy reminds everyone not to drink or eat it by mistake. At the same time, there are some knowledge you need to understand.

What are alcohol-based fuel and methanol?

Alcohol-based fuel uses alcohol compounds as the main raw material. It is easy to obtain and burns fully and thoroughly. It is made into liquid or solid form and is toxic. As a new type of fuel, it is now widely used in catering kitchens and other fields. Its main component is methanol.

Methanol, also known as hydroxymethane, is a colorless organic compound with a pungent odor. Methanol was first discovered in dry wood, so it is also called "wood alcohol" or "wood spirit". It is now divided into industrial methanol, fuel methanol and denatured methanol based on different raw materials and uses.

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Methanol and ethanol are both alcohol substances that are infinitely miscible with water. The main component of the wine we drink is ethanol, and methanol is not added to liquor as an additive. Methanol will be produced more or less in almost any wine brewing process, that is, methanol will appear in the winemaking process.

However, methanol is a harmful substance with strong toxicity. If used improperly, such as through oral ingestion, inhalation from the environment and skin contact, and the methanol content reaches 100 mg per kilogram of body weight, methanol will be oxidized in the body to produce formaldehyde and formic acid, which will seriously affect the human nervous system and blood system, resulting in poisoning symptoms. Once the ingested dose reaches 300 mg to 1000 mg per kilogram of body weight, it can be fatal.

What are the symptoms of methanol poisoning?

Methanol poisoning can manifest itself in mild, moderate, or severe symptoms depending on the route and dose of ingestion.

Mild poisoning is mostly caused by inhalation from the environment or skin contact, and may cause dizziness, headache, fatigue, blurred vision, staggering gait like drunken ataxia, nausea, vomiting, upper abdominal discomfort and other gastrointestinal symptoms, as well as the more typical jumping black shadows, flying snow and flashing lights in front of the eyes. Clinical examination can show symptoms of mild acidosis such as dilated pupils, slow or absent light response, retinal congestion, hemorrhage, papilledema, etc.

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Severe poisoning can cause severe headache, vomiting, dizziness, confusion, blindness, rapid coma, and ultimately death from respiratory or heart failure.

How serious are the dangers of methanol poisoning?

Methanol is oxidized through metabolism into highly toxic formaldehyde and formic acid, which are difficult to excrete from the body. This increases tissue acidity and causes acidosis, leading to kidney failure and even death.

Formic acid that cannot be excreted by the human body will irritate the mucous membranes and inhibit the activity of cytochrome c oxidase in the mitochondria, leading to interruption of the respiratory chain, accumulation of metabolites, and cell necrosis. Therefore, blindness is the most typical symptom of methanol poisoning.

How to prevent methanol poisoning?

What should I do after being poisoned?

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How to prevent methanol poisoning

Do not drink home-brewed wine or wine produced in small workshops. The methanol in liquor comes from the pectin in the raw materials of winemaking, which is produced by a series of biochemical reactions under high temperature and high pressure. Methanol is an inevitable substance in wines brewed from fruits and sweet potatoes. In wineries with mature processes, the step of specially handling methanol is an indispensable process for standardized operations. The methanol content in various types of wine must meet the requirements of national standards before it can leave the factory.

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Be careful when drinking bulk liquor. Bulk liquor still has a market in some areas because of its affordable price, but it is inevitable that a few illegal vendors will blend it to reduce costs, and there is no guarantee that methanol will not exceed the standard. If you want to buy bulk liquor, you must buy it from a merchant with traceable supply channels.

Carefully store and preserve alcohol-based fuels. Decades of practice have proven that alcohol-based fuels produced by my country, which are made by dehydrating and refining crude methanol, generally do not cause health hazards due to incomplete combustion as long as they are operated in accordance with regulations. Therefore, they are widely used in the catering industry and wedding and funeral banquets in rural areas as a substitute for traditional safe fuels. However, because the smell of alcohol-based liquid fuels is similar to that of liquor, and both are colorless and transparent liquids, if they are not kept by a dedicated person, they may be mistaken for liquor and drunk, resulting in methanol poisoning.

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What to do after methanol poisoning

Methanol poisoning usually develops 8 to 36 hours after accidental or oral ingestion of methanol, but can also be as short as a few dozen minutes. If you drink strong liquor with excessive methanol content, the incubation period can be prolonged, sometimes up to 4 days before symptoms appear. Early and rapid correction of acidosis is the key to saving lives and vision.

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If the patient is poisoned by accidental or oral methanol, you can try to use a hard object to push against the throat to induce vomiting, but the practice of "drinking ethanol to detoxify after methanol poisoning" that is spread on the Internet must not be used. Stimulating the throat to induce vomiting can help quickly relieve the discomfort of methanol poisoning, but be careful to rinse your mouth with water or drink a small amount of warm water after vomiting to prevent burns to the digestive tract. In any case, if poisoning is discovered, send to the hospital immediately to save lives and minimize the harm.

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