Dear ANB Readers,
It was all over the news recently that about 70 people died in Port-harcourt after having some Ogogoro(local gin) and dog meat. It was later reported by The Guardian that the deaths occurred as a result of a fatal substitution of one of the key ingredients.
Methanol is non-drinking type of alcohol used for industrial and automotive purposes. When consumed it gives rises to a series of symptoms and eventually leads to death. Its so dangerous and the average person cannot tell them apart.
Sad but true, there really isn't so much you can do in Nigeria as we do not have accessible poison control centers and in most cases people don't know they have consumed methanol until they become symptomatic and start to experience blurred vision and weakening legs.(1) If by any change you figure out that that you may have consumed methanol, gastric lavage(a tube inserted into your mouth to make you vomit) but its pretty hopeless cos its not like you have the lavage device just sitting around.
So the real good advice if you live in Nigeria is to stay away. Don't buy unregistered and tested drinks. Drink some home made Zobo instead.
ANTIDOTES
Therapeutic literature state that Ethanol(drinking alcohol) and a drug fomepizole can be used to treat ethanol poisoning but that depends on a lot of factors and the drug fomepizole is expensive and not readily available. Ethanol with is present in dilute forms as shown in the table above. However, the effectiveness of ethanol in such a case totally depends on the time between consumption of Methanol and Ethanol for instance, if you accidentally drink Methanol and within 15-20 mins you get some ethanol (Alcohol), you might be fine. However, it its been more than 30 mins, there's no guarantee that it'll make any difference.
Please stay safe and be careful what you drink.
Stay Safe,
Aunty Nurse
Reference:
Goldfrank LR, ed.Goldfrank's Toxicologic Emergencies
It was all over the news recently that about 70 people died in Port-harcourt after having some Ogogoro(local gin) and dog meat. It was later reported by The Guardian that the deaths occurred as a result of a fatal substitution of one of the key ingredients.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
I'll try to break it down as simply as I can. The major ingredient is the Alcohol (ethanol). However in the unfortunate incident, the gin manufacturers decided to use Methanol either because it was cheaper or because they manufacturers are not usually learned so they probably assumed that its just the same thing.Methanol is non-drinking type of alcohol used for industrial and automotive purposes. When consumed it gives rises to a series of symptoms and eventually leads to death. Its so dangerous and the average person cannot tell them apart.
WHAT TO DO
Sad but true, there really isn't so much you can do in Nigeria as we do not have accessible poison control centers and in most cases people don't know they have consumed methanol until they become symptomatic and start to experience blurred vision and weakening legs.(1) If by any change you figure out that that you may have consumed methanol, gastric lavage(a tube inserted into your mouth to make you vomit) but its pretty hopeless cos its not like you have the lavage device just sitting around.
So the real good advice if you live in Nigeria is to stay away. Don't buy unregistered and tested drinks. Drink some home made Zobo instead.
ANTIDOTES
Therapeutic literature state that Ethanol(drinking alcohol) and a drug fomepizole can be used to treat ethanol poisoning but that depends on a lot of factors and the drug fomepizole is expensive and not readily available. Ethanol with is present in dilute forms as shown in the table above. However, the effectiveness of ethanol in such a case totally depends on the time between consumption of Methanol and Ethanol for instance, if you accidentally drink Methanol and within 15-20 mins you get some ethanol (Alcohol), you might be fine. However, it its been more than 30 mins, there's no guarantee that it'll make any difference.
Please stay safe and be careful what you drink.
Stay Safe,
Aunty Nurse
Reference:
Goldfrank LR, ed.Goldfrank's Toxicologic Emergencies
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