A person in Ho Chi Minh City died from severe alcohol poisoning.

On May 3, the Emergency Department of Military Hospital 175 received three cases of relatives in a family in District 12 who were hospitalized with fatigue, headaches, severe vomiting, and visual disturbances. According to the victims' relatives, on the evening of May 1, the family organized a holiday party. After a day, the three men had to be hospitalized due to fatigue, vomiting, and headaches.

Major, Doctor Duong Xuan Minh, Department of Blood Filtration, Military Hospital 175 said that blood test results showed that the victims had multiple organ dysfunction, especially severe metabolic acidosis, increased anion gap, increased blood osmotic pressure gap, while the ethanol concentration in the blood was not high. Combined with the epidemiological factor, all three people drank alcohol and had similar signs and symptoms, the doctors thought the cause was methanol poisoning. After that, the hospital held an emergency consultation with experts inside and outside the unit to determine, diagnose and carry out active resuscitation interventions such as: blood filtration, blood sugar control, electrolytes, ethanol supplementation through the digestive tract...

Despite the doctors' best efforts to save him, one of the three (Mr. T.) did not survive. The other two, Nguyen Van A. (born in 1977) and Nguyen Van Q. (born in 1987), have overcome the critical stage. Currently, the two are conscious, able to function, and their metabolic acidosis has returned to normal; it is expected that they will be discharged from the hospital in the next few days.

According to Dr. Duong Xuan Minh, methanol, commonly known as industrial alcohol, has many different uses such as: making paint, solvents... However, this substance is very toxic to the human body and is absolutely not used to make alcohol or food like ethanol. Alcohol poisoning from ethanol is usually milder, with only symptoms such as: drunkenness. Alcohol poisoning from methanol is often more severe and very dangerous. In cases where detection and hospitalization are not timely, the victim will fall into a state of worsening progression such as: metabolic acidosis, multiple organ damage leading to death.

Symptoms of methanol poisoning usually appear after 1-2 days, including: not being able to urinate, persistent headache, increasing fatigue, lethargy or agitation, loss of alertness. In particular, signs of visual disturbances appear very early. People who drink alcohol containing methanol often see white clouds like mist in front of them... People who show signs of poisoning after consuming alcohol of unknown origin should be taken to the nearest medical facility as soon as possible for timely treatment.

According to VNA