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. 2020 Apr 28:2020:5816162.
doi: 10.1155/2020/5816162. eCollection 2020.

Fatal Methanol Poisoning Caused by Drinking Adulterated Locally Distilled Alcohol: Wakiso District, Uganda, June 2017

Birungi Doreen  1 , Patricia Eyu  1 , Denis Okethwangu  1 , Claire Biribawa  1 , Susan Kizito  1 , Miriam Nakanwagi  1 , Joyce Nguna  1 , Innocent H Nkonwa  1 , Denis N Opio  1 , Freda L Aceng  1 , Phoebe H Alitubeera  1 , Daniel Kadobera  1 , Benon Kwesiga  1 , Lilian Bulage  1 , Alex R Ario  1 , Bao-Ping Zhu  2   3
Affiliations

Fatal Methanol Poisoning Caused by Drinking Adulterated Locally Distilled Alcohol: Wakiso District, Uganda, June 2017

Birungi Doreen et al. J Environ Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Methanol, an industrial solvent, can cause illness and death if ingested. In June 2017, the Uganda Ministry of Health was notified of a cluster of deaths which occurred after drinking alcohol. We investigated to determine the cause of outbreak, identify risk factors, and recommend evidence-based control measures.

Methods: We defined a probable case as acute loss of eyesight and ≥1 of the following symptoms: profuse sweating, vomiting, dizziness, or loss of consciousness in a resident of either Nabweru or Nangabo Subcounty from 1 to 30 June 2017. In a case-control study, we compared exposures of case-patients and controls selected among asymptomatic neighbors who drank alcohol and matched by age and sex. We collected alcohol samples from implicated bars and wholesaler X for testing.

Results: We identified 15 cases; 12 (80%) died. Among case-patients, 12 (80%) were men; the median age was 43 (range: 23-66) years. Thirteen (87%) of 15 case-patients and 15 (25%) of 60 controls last drank a locally distilled alcohol at one of the three bars supplied by wholesaler X (ORM-H = 15; 95% CI: 2.3-106). We found that alcohol sellers sometimes added methanol to drinking alcohol to increase their profit margin. Among the 10 alcohol samples from wholesaler X, the mean methanol content (1200 mg/L, range: 77-2711 mg/L) was 24 times higher than the safe level.

Conclusion: This outbreak was caused by drinking a locally distilled alcohol adulterated with methanol from wholesaler X. We recommended enforcing existing laws governing alcohol manufacture and sale. We recommended timely intravenous administration of ethanol to methanol poisoning victims.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Methanol poisoning cases by onset date during an outbreak in Wakiso District, Uganda, June 2017.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Geographic distribution of methanol poisoning cases during an outbreak in Wakiso District, Uganda, June 2017.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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