From Laos last month there came the terrible news of a suspected mass methanol poisoning incident in which some six foreign nationals died, with more still in hospital, raising questions about how such a tragedy could have occurred and how widespread the phenomenon of methanol poisoning may be.
The mass poisoning is thought to have originated at a backpacker hostel in the town of Vang Vieng in Laos, which is now closed and under investigation. It has since claimed the lives of Australian nationals Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, British lawyer Simone White, Danish nationals Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, and American James Louis Hutson.
For some, the case in Vang Vieng may be the first they have heard about methanol poisoning, although, sadly, is not an uncommon occurrence across Southeast Asia, with cases reported every year in countries including Laos, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Many of these cases do not make the news, although a 2018 incident in Indonesia hit the headlines after more than 100 people died in a suspected mass poisoning in the cities of Bandung and Jakarta, and more than 160 others were hospitalized after drinking suspected tainted liquor.
In 2013, Australian national, 19-year-old Liam Davies, died after drinking illicit vodka on the island of Gili Trawangan off the coast of Indonesia’s Lombok and, in 2022, a British ceramicist named Kirsty McKie died in Bali after ingesting methanol.
While tourists or foreign nationals may fall victim to methanol poisoning, it is more common for local residents to be affected, and usually those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds for whom legal alcohol, which is heavily taxed in countries like Indonesia, is prohibitively expensive. This means that they often turn to cheaper home-brewed alternatives instead, with no knowledge of what they are actually drinking.
Methanol develops naturally during the alcohol distillation process, and is burnt off when alcohol is heated. However, problems occur if the alcohol is not heated to a high enough temperature, or is not heated at all by home distilleries that are looking to produce as much bootleg alcohol as quickly and cheaply as possible.
One of the main issues with methanol poisoning is that it is often misdiagnosed or attributed to something else. Often, it can be confused with alcohol poisoning, or missed completely when doctors focus only on the symptoms, such as bleeding in the brain.
This happened in the case of Davies, who was initially tested for tetanus by a hospital in Lombok because he was experiencing seizures.
Methanol poisoning has a long list of symptoms including nausea, vomiting, sweating, and heart palpitations. It also affects the eyes, causing clouded vision, tunnel vision, spotting, and sensitivity to light as the optic nerve is damaged.
Yet when victims find themselves in the grip of potentially deadly methanol poisoning, they need to be aware of what is happening to them and also need to be in a place with access to health professionals who have working knowledge of the symptoms of methanol poisoning and how to treat it.
Unusually, the treatment for methanol poisoning is actually alcohol, which prevents the body from processing the methanol in its system and buys patients time to get to a hospital and start dialysis to clean the methanol out of the blood.
With that in mind, it is no wonder that the situation went so wrong in Laos, as it is unlikely that the majority of those affected knew that they had been poisoned, or were in a position to be able to ask for the correct treatment from health professionals.
It should also not be the sole responsibility of those who have fallen ill to accurately diagnose themselves and advocate for their own treatment plans.
Both the Australian nationals in Laos were transferred to hospitals in Thailand, which should have been more equipped to deal with methanol poisoning, but time is of the essence in such cases, as dialysis needs to be started as soon as possible before the methanol begins to attack the body’s vital organs.
Perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of the case in Laos, is that methanol poisoning cases have been happening for years, and yet people, both locals and foreigners, keep dying due to a lack of information about the dangers.
This has been coupled with a lack of effort by the authorities to clamp down on illicit alcohol, and a lack of widespread training for medical professionals in countries where cases continue to occur.
Methanol poisoning is a truly senseless tragedy, and the deaths in Laos were easily preventable.
If anything positive can come from this, it will hopefully be that it has raised awareness of a widespread issue that has not been talked about enough.