During Tet, the demand for alcohol increases, people need to pay special attention to types of alcohol that can easily cause poisoning.
Many dangerous poisoning cases
In Quang Ninh province, there was an incident where 5 people were poisoned after a meal containing wine soaked with forest tree roots, one of whom died. Before that, these 5 people drank about 1 liter of white wine, then continued to drink more wine soaked with forest tree roots. After finishing the meal, all 5 people showed symptoms of dizziness, itching, heavy eyelids, dizziness, drowsiness, fatigue... and were taken to Dong Trieu City Medical Center for treatment.
Recently, in Hanoi, there was also a mass poisoning incident after a party at a conference organized by NBC Pacific LLC. Immediately after the party, 20 people showed signs of poisoning and were hospitalized, including 18 patients admitted to Bach Mai Hospital, 1 patient treated at Duc Giang General Hospital and 1 patient treated at Xanh Pon General Hospital. In addition, 2 people died outside the hospital...
According to the Hanoi Department of Health, immediately after the incident, the authorities took action. According to the investigation results, all of the above patients were related to the use of catering services at the event venue and used white wine brought in by the company. The authorities took a total of 53 samples of food and wine related to the incident for testing.
Test results from the National Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene showed that of the 6 wine samples brought by Pacific Company, 2 wine samples had methanol concentrations exceeding the permissible limit and were found to contain acetonitrile.
According to the Poison Control Center of Bach Mai Hospital, from the results of blood samples of the patients, doctors determined that these were cases of Acetonitrile poisoning, an organic compound commonly used in chemical production. Acetonitrile is usually not a natural ingredient in alcohol, this product is often used as a solvent, in pharmaceutical production, in the plastic industry... When entering the body, Acetonitrile can slowly metabolize into cyanide, causing poisoning with symptoms occurring many hours after drinking.
From this incident, the Hanoi Department of Health has requested relevant sectors to review alcohol production and trading establishments, strengthen food safety inspection and supervision according to management levels, detect and strictly handle violations of food safety regulations.
According to experts, the causes of alcohol poisoning cases in recent times show that types of alcohol such as: White wine, wine with high methanol content are the leading causes of poisoning and death; wine soaked with medicinal plants, wine soaked with poisonous forest plants, wine soaked with water chestnuts... are types of alcohol that can easily cause poisoning, even endangering the lives of users.
Beware of the quality of alcohol
According to Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, Director of the Poison Control Center, Bach Mai Hospital, alcohol poisoning cases are often in a state of acute poisoning due to drinking too much alcohol at one time or abusing alcohol for too long, causing the brain to lose control.
It is especially dangerous if the alcohol contains toxic substances such as alcohol mixed with industrial alcohol Methanol, when entering the body, it is converted into Formic Acid, which is more toxic than Methanol, causing damage to the eyes, nerves... Especially, during the holidays, people can drink many different types of alcohol, which slows down the Methanol metabolism process even more. Therefore, there are many cases where blurred vision, poisoning appear many days after drinking alcohol... most of the time when they go to the emergency room, it is too late, severe, and even fatal. Worryingly, industrial alcohol Methanol products are bottled with the same design, form, and label as medical alcohol and are even mixed and sold in pharmacies, making it difficult for people to distinguish.
Not to mention the dangers of Methanol, even with “genuine” Ethanol, drinking too much can be life-threatening. Because alcohol is a substance that affects many body functions; it can affect the brain, respiratory function, cardiovascular system, hypotension, hypothermia... which can cause the drinker to lose control.
Therefore, Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen recommends that, with the above harmful effects, people should limit the use of beer and alcohol; especially people with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases should not drink alcohol. In the case of a drunk person, if they fall asleep, relatives should proactively wake them up and feed them porridge to avoid hypoglycemia; especially, in the case of a drunk person who does not wake up for a long time or vomits and cannot eat or drink, they should be taken immediately to a medical facility for timely treatment.
In addition, soaked wines also have a high risk of poisoning. Many people believe that “medicinal wines” soaked with medicinal herbs or animals are also medicines to cure diseases and improve health. However, the easy use of medicinal herbs, not calculating the specific dosage, not knowing the ingredients can cause harmful effects, the drinker may suffer serious injuries, poisoning, poisoning… Not to mention, many people also soak plants, animals… that are highly toxic, easily causing poisoning, affecting the health and life of the user.
To limit alcohol poisoning, in addition to strengthening inspection and handling of violating establishments, the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health) recommends that production and business establishments absolutely do not produce and trade alcohol mixed from ingredients and alcohol that do not ensure quality, are not labeled, and have not yet announced standards. The authorities, especially at the commune and ward levels, must strengthen inspection and examination of alcohol production and business establishments, strictly handle and publicize violating establishments.
For the people, the Food Safety Department recommends absolutely not to buy and use floating alcohol, without labels and without published standards to avoid using alcohol mixed with industrial alcohol Methanol.
To prevent alcohol poisoning during Tet, people should not drink alcohol soaked with leaves, roots, animal organs... of unknown toxicity or alcohol soaked based on personal experience; do not drink alcohol when: Not knowing what kind of alcohol it is, alcohol of unknown origin, alcohol with no published quality standards, hungry, tired or taking medication...
People should also pay attention, should not drink alcohol with a concentration of 30 degrees or more, exceeding 30 ml/person/day. In particular, the Food Safety Department also recommends that people with alcohol poisoning often have the following symptoms: Slightly blue or purple skin, especially around the lips and fingernails; confusion, slow reaction, inability to walk; difficulty maintaining consciousness; hypothermia; unclear speech, slurred speech; vomiting; slow breathing, irregular breathing... When detecting people with symptoms of suspected alcohol poisoning, they need to be taken to the nearest medical facility for timely treatment, avoiding serious complications.