Melbourne teenager Bianca Jones dies in Thai hospital

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Experts say even a small amount of methanol can be extremely dangerous. Spoke earlier with clinical toxicologist Darren Roberts and he explained exactly what methanol is and why it's so dangerous.

Transcript

00:00Methanol is an alcohol, it's one of the types of alcohols and really most of its use is

00:06for industrial purposes, either as a cleaner or maybe in manufacturing.

00:10So we don't tend to come across methanol a lot within our homes, but there are as mentioned

00:15industrial uses for methanol, which means there's large amounts that's floating around.

00:20And what we see sometimes is what we're seeing now is that that methanol for some reason

00:24gets into a food or a drink supply and we get tragic outcomes.

00:29And how does it physically affect your body if ingested?

00:35Methanol is metabolised or dealt with in the body a bit similar to regular alcohol.

00:41So the body will metabolise it from the methanol into an acid.

00:44And so in the case of regular ethanol or alcohol, the body clears that readily.

00:49But the problem with methanol is that it forms this acid called formic acid that it can't

00:54deal with very well.

00:55This is a very toxic acid and it causes problems throughout the body, but particularly to parts

00:59of the brain and the eyes.

01:02And that's where we see all these terrible complications from.

01:06The acid initially, you'll see effects within about six hours on blood tests, although how

01:11severe these are will depend on whether or not the person's already drunk some regular

01:15alcohol or the amount they've also drunk.

01:21So that will be one effect.

01:22Then after that, within about, say, 12 hours, people start to feel sick or vomit or have

01:27tummy pain.

01:28And then around that same time, they get changes in their vision.

01:32And this is a bad sign.

01:33Once people get change in their vision, we know that they've got a severe poisoning.

01:37And then after that, it can just continue to get worse.

01:40And so is there anything that can be done immediately after taking it if you realise

01:45you have to try to limit the effects?

01:50There is.

01:51The problem is that most people aren't aware at the time they've drunk something that is

01:54actually methanol.

01:55But in the event that you were aware that you'd had some methanol or a high risk of

02:00having methanol, then the actual, the antidote to that is to drink ethanol or regular alcohol.

02:05So of course, that's a tricky decision to make if you're in a place where you're not

02:09sure that the alcohol that you're drinking is safe.

02:12Beer tends to be a safe form of alcohol to drink.

02:15But the problem is the amount that someone needs to drink is very large, maybe two litres

02:19of beer.

02:20For me, I'm a large person, less for smaller people, but it's a large volume of beer that

02:24would need to be drunk.

02:25But drinking alcohol is the best treatment and, of course, getting medical assistance

02:30immediately.

02:31But as you say, if you aren't aware of it immediately, then symptoms don't happen for

02:38several hours later.

02:40And once it gets to that stage, can you do anything?

02:45Always get to hospital as soon as possible to be assessed.

02:48There are many cases of people who have a very good outcome if they get to hospital,

02:51even if it's 12 or 24 hours later.

02:54But as mentioned, the onset and the severity of the effects depends in part on how much

02:59someone is drunk, but also whether or not they had regular alcohol at the same time.

03:04We don't know if these poor girls and others who are affected drank methanol that was mixed

03:10with ethanol or if it was methanol on its own.

03:13So it's these different factors that impact on the onset.

03:15But if anyone has any symptoms when they're travelling and they're concerned it could

03:18be methanol, my suggestion is just to get help.

03:22And are the effects worse if you have had some alcohol before you inadvertently drink

03:28methanol?

03:29Or is it worse or better if you've actually had a bit of alcohol first?

03:33Better.

03:34So ethanol helps to be an antidote and prevent the effects of methanol.

03:39But that doesn't take away the need to get medical assistance.

03:42It's necessary to get treatment for that.

03:44But alcohol is protective if someone has already had that.

03:48So what can people do if travelling, particularly in Southeast Asia, to try to limit the chance

03:54of inadvertently taking it apart from not drinking alcohol at all?

04:01This is a tricky one.

04:03Anyone who's travelling in countries where there may be less regulation of alcohol is

04:08at risk of drinking something containing methanol.

04:12We see all around the world, it's not just in South Asia, where there are clusters every

04:16now and again of methanol poisoning, which really is very upsetting, disturbing and can

04:20cause a lot of anxiety for travellers.

04:23Generally if you are drinking in a reputable organisation, whether it be a reputable bar

04:27or hotel, it's anticipated that their supplies would be much higher quality.

04:34Beer doesn't have the risk of methanol poisoning for people who enjoy beer.

04:38But it can be tricky, unfortunately, to avoid.

04:41Fortunately, it's not that common.

04:42But when it does occur, we see what we're seeing now, it's tragic.

04:46For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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