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

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 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 (OR = 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 , 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 . We recommended enforcing existing laws governing alcohol manufacture and sale. We recommended timely intravenous administration of ethanol to methanol poisoning victims.