72-hour Ecuador booze ban to investigate contamination

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDJul 19 2011

After 23 alcohol related deaths the police confiscated 28 containers each holding 55 gallons of contaminated alcohol in Los Rios, a coastal province of Ecuador. A 72-hour national dry law prohibiting the sale of alcohol has been declared to allow authorities to locate and discard the deadly methanol-contaminated liquor that affected so many individuals.

Public Health Minister David Chiriboga reports that 103 people have been treated for consuming contaminated alcohol and urged people to seek help if they were nauseous or vomiting. Other symptoms included blurred vision, abdominal pain, and difficulty breathing, according to Chiriboga.

“People died from cardiac arrest or were moved to Guayaquil,” said Marjorie Vega, the health minister in the Los Rios. She added that some others ended up blind or suffered kidney damage, and that more victims are being found. Vega said that the number of new cases has diminished thanks to information campaigns on the streets of the town and through the media. “We prevented a few cases,” she said but added that “there are many more than the 103 patients” who have been treated.

One person was arrested in the town of Ricaurte, where 21 people died, officials said without releasing details. Two other deaths from similar cause were reported in the central part of the country, according to health officials, which issued new warnings about consuming homemade liquor. Officials also raided the home of one person where containers or alcohol for industrial use were found.

According to the official, the first deaths occurred on Thursday, several days after people began drinking the tainted alcohol, and increased rapidly over the weekend.