Six foreign tourists, including an unnamed American, they died of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos, Southeast Asia.

The tourists are believed to have fallen ill after drinking alcohol laced with the deadly chemical about a week ago in the backpacker town of Vang Vieng. But methanol poisoning has not yet been confirmed.

Despite its toxicity, alcoholic beverages are sometimes contaminated with methanol because it is relatively cheap. It is also often found in home-distilled spirits.

But consuming it is extremely dangerous, with less than two tablespoons a potentially fatal dose, according to the report BBC.

What is methanol?

Methanol is a very toxic form of alcohol. It is commonly used as a industrial chemistry and can be found in products such as windshield washer fluid, antifreeze, and perfume.

It is also produced naturally when plants such as agave, potatoes and fruit are fermented as part of the alcoholic beverage making process.

Professional distillers use several methods to reduce the methanol content of their drinks according to strict regulations. But the methanol content of bootleg drinks cannot be guaranteed.

It is “like the alcohol in our drinks – colorless and odorless,” said Christer Hogstrand, professor of molecular ecotoxicology at King’s College London. Science Media Center. But, “it has a different structure of the carbon atom that completely changes the way people process it in the body, leading to these potentially fatal consequences.”

“If it’s enough, a person who drinks it can go blind, have internal organ failure, and even die”

What happens when you drink methanol?

When methanol breaks down in the human body, it forms dangerous chemicals called formic acid, formaldehyde, and formate.

All three of these substances make it difficult for mitrachondria – tiny structures inside our cells – to produce energy. This is particularly harmful to the brain.

Formic acid and formate can also lower blood pH levels, damaging tissues throughout the body and leading to organ failure.

Initially, this can make breathing difficult. Eventually, it can stop the heart from working.

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At first, the chemical has effects similar to alcohol. Because of this, it is often not clear for some time that someone has been poisoned. Other symptoms may take up to a day to appear.

The chemical may initially cause symptoms such as dizziness, weakness, slurred speech, and disinhibition. Later, it can lead to headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, internal bleeding and seizures.

Formaldehyde damages the nerves that connect the eyes and the brain, causing serious vision problems, from blurred vision to hallucinations such as flashes and dancing spots. Drinking less than a teaspoon of methanol can cause blindness in some people.

“In later stages, which generally develop 18 to 48 hours after methanol ingestion, drowsiness can progress to coma,” said Sir Colin Barry, professor of pathology at Queen Mary University of London.

How is methanol poisoning treated?

Depending on how badly someone has been poisoned, they may be given ethanol and put on dialysis to remove the methanol from the blood.

“If the poisoning is not too severe and only blood tests will determine this, ethanol alone may be sufficient,” Alastair Hay, emeritus professor (emeritus) of environmental toxicology and the University of Leeds, told SMC.

Ethanol—a very similar type of alcohol—is a basic treatment for methanol ingestion because it slows the metabolism of methanol.

“Both alcohols are broken down by the same liver enzyme,” Hay said. “But the enzyme prefers ethanol.”

This can allow the body to “release the methanol from the lungs and some through the kidneys and a little through sweat.”

It is crucial to avoid producing toxic levels of formaldehyde, he added.