Fatal Methanol Poisoning Caused by Drinking Industrial Alcohol: Silesia Region, Poland, April–June 2022

Abstract

Methanol poisonings caused by drinking industrial alcohol remain a severe problem worldwide. Education on types of alcohol and their harmfulness and legal regulations limiting the industrial alcohol trade seem to be the keys to reducing the number of poisonings. Methanol distribution in different tissues after absorption is not well understood. This research aimed to quantify the methanol and formic acid distribution in body fluids and tissue material in post-mortem samples collected from 19 fatal victims of massive intoxication with industrial alcohol in the Silesia Region (Poland) who died between April and June 2022. The samples were analyzed using a gas chromatography–flame ionization detector (GC-FID), and correlation coefficients for methanol and formic acid were determined. The results show a wide distribution of methanol and formic acid in human post-mortem biological fluids (blood, urine, vitreous humor, bile, and cerebrospinal fluid) and tissues (muscle, kidney, liver, spleen, lung, and brain). The strongest correlation for methanol concentration in blood and body fluids/tissues was obtained in the cerebrospinal fluid (r = 0.997) and for formic acid in muscle tissue (r = 0.931). The obtained results may be a valuable tool in toxicological analysis and improve medical standards of early diagnosis and targeted treatment.

Epiglottis Cartilage, Costal Cartilage, and Intervertebral Disc Cartilage as Alternative Materials in the Postmortem Diagnosis of Methanol Poisoning

“…So far, few studies about mass methanol poisonings have analyzed the results of postmortem studies [ 30 , 33 ]. The ingestion of the same dose of methanol may result in different clinical symptoms.…”

“…Methanol distribution in different tissues and body fluids after absorption is poorly understood. Our research focused on methanol and formic acid distribution in cartilage tissues sampled from 17 fatal victims of a mass intoxication with industrial alcohol who died between April and June 2022 in the Silesia Region (Poland) [ 30 ].…”

Intoxicación por metanol: análisis de una serie de casos en dos Hospitales Públicos.

“…Tiene una vida media entre 12 a 24 h y su pico máximo se presenta a los 30-90 min posingesta [1][2][3] . El 80% se metaboliza en el hígado por medio de la enzima alcohol deshidrogenasa, formando el formaldehído que se convierte en ácido fórmico por medio de la enzima aldehído deshidrogenasa [4][5][6] . El ácido fórmico es el causante de la acidosis metabólica en el paciente intoxicado el cual produce depresión respiratoria, daño citotóxico, metabolismo anaerobio y acidosis láctica [3,[7][8][9][10][11][12] .…”

“…La intoxicación por metanol provoca una acidosis metabólica severa así como alteraciones visuales y neurológicas que pueden llegar a ser permanentes a pesar de un tratamiento agresivo. Por lo general ocurre en varones entre 30-40 años [5,6] . El Perú es el primer consumidor de alcohol ilegal de la región [17] .…”

“…Entre más pronto sea su diagnóstico y tratamiento, será menor la tasa de mortalidad. Aquellos que sobreviven sufren secuelas como rigidez, hipoquinesia, alteración motora o ceguera total [4][5][6][7][8][9] .…”