The Peruvian health ministry announced that at least 54 people have died in the last month after consuming bottled drinks containing methanol, a toxic form of alcohol.
Since mid-September, the ministry has recorded 117 cases of methanol poisoning. 54 of them were killed.
“It is the highest figure (of methanol poisoning) in recent years,” Eduardo Ortega, the head of the ministry’s National Center for Epidemiology, told AFP.
On Sunday, the ministry warned people not to drink vodka/passion fruit and pina colada-flavored drinks sold in two-liter plastic bottles under the brand name Punto D Oro because tests revealed they contained methanol, an ingredient found in windshield washer fluid and antifreeze.
It warned that the drinks could cause “serious harm to the health of those who consume them.”
This came after dozens of cases of intoxication were reported at hospitals in and around Lima.
According to the Methanol Institute’s website, a global trade association, “unscrupulous enterprises or individuals” sometimes intentionally add methanol to alcoholic drinks as a cheaper alternative to safe and consumable ethanol.
Poisoning can also occur from improper brewing of homemade alcohol, according to the report.
According to the institute, symptoms of methanol poisoning include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing, blindness, blurred vision, seizures, and comas. Even a small amount of alcohol, as little as 25 mL (0.8 ounces), can be fatal.
