DR NKS
A few quiet
on your well-deserved holidays?
On New Year’s Eve 2012, Australian Liam Davies was celebrating
with mates on Gili Trawangan, a tourist island off the north-west
coast of Lombok. “Do you serve genuine imported spirits?” he
asked the bartender, before ordering a vodka and lime.
“Yes” they said.
They lied. Within days Liam was
dead of methanol poisoning.
Sorry to be depressing, but
ignorance is not bliss when it
comes to methanol. Who would
have thought, that something like
having a little drink on holidays,
could turn out so tragically.
Every traveller who drinks spirits
overseas needs to know about
methanol. Methanol poisoning
is a dangerous but grossly
underestimated risk to travellers.
Poisoning can happen anywhere,
but it is more common where
home-brewed spirits are widely
available, such as Indonesia,
Thailand or Vietnam. Bar owners
may lace spirits with methanol
(aka ‘bootleg’) to increase profits.
Methanol is tasteless and odourless.
40
Women’s Network Magazine
The first symptoms of methanol
poisoning feel like a hangover -
even from one drink. It can take
several hours after consumption
before the symptoms of methanol
poisoning appear. It becomes
like a super hangover; bad
headache, dizziness, vomiting,
abdominal pain, breathlessness,
impaired vision and, in severe
cases, blindness (which can be
permanent). It just keeps getting
worse, the body shuts down, and
the poisoning leads to convulsions,
coma and death. Urgent skilled
medical care is required if the
person has any hope of surviving.
Usually by the time people realise
its really serious, it istoo late.
But this is a completely avoidable
problem – if you know about it.
The best way to prevent methanol
poisoning is don’t drink spirits or