Bali Deadly Cocktail Poison
1) Nurse poisoned by cocktail
- Nick Ralston
A YOUNG nurse from Newcastle has suffered brain damage and
Jamie Johnston has spent the past three weeks in intensive care units in Bali and Darwin hospitals after ordering a jug of arak - a Balinese rice wine - mixed with fruit juice to share with her mother at the Happy Cafe restaurant in Lombok.
Arak is traditionally made from fermented rice, palm sap and other base ingredients.
A batch contaminated with methanol - a toxic chemical compound often used as an anti-freeze or in paint - and sold in Bali in 2009, killed 25 people, including a British national, an Irish woman, a Dutch man and an American woman.
Ms Johnston's mother, Lyn, said test results had shown her daughter suffered methanol toxicity from the drink on September 20 at a restaurant highly recommended by locals.
After being taken off the plane home in unbearable pain, the 25-year-old became unconscious and has suffered brain scarring and kidney failure and has been left unable to move or talk properly since. Doctors still cannot tell her family what the long-term effects will be, with her mother saying her daughter's chances of making a full recovery changes ''day to day''.
''We were on our way home when she collapsed. It was a dreadful end,'' Mrs Johnston said.
''It has all been unbelievably traumatic and horrible. People need to be warned about this. Potentially she could have been killed. We could have both been killed.''
Not covered by travel insurance, Mrs Johnston paid more than $45,000 to have her daughter flown from Bali to Darwin to receive treatment in Australia.
New South Wales Health Minister Jillian Skinner is working to have her flown from Darwin to Newcastle to
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/nurse-poisoned-by-cocktail-20111011-1lj6v.html#ixzz2ICf5tJhD
2) Backpacker blinded by Bali cocktail
- AAP
- August 03, 2012 4:28PM
EMERGENCY doctors are warning tourists travelling to Bali about the dangers of tainted cocktails after a backpacker was left with permanent damage to her vision from a drink containing methanol.
The 19-year-old American developed methanol poisoning after
drinking eight to 10 complimentary drinks at popular tourist bars in
Denpasar, Bali.
Methanol is used as a fuel, a windscreen de-icer and antifreeze.
The
drinks contained a mixture of Arrack, a coconut flower rice and
sugarcane spirit, and fruit juice, but it is likely that it was also
contaminated with methanol from local 'moonshine' alcohol tainted with
methanol.
When the backpacker in New Zealand 35 hours later she was suffering shortness of breath and impaired vision.
The teenager was treated at Christchurch Hospital emergency department for methanol poisoning but her vision continued to deteriorate over the next four weeks.
The case follows a similar incident last year in which a 25-year-old Australian nurse suffered brain damage and kidney failure after drinking Arrack laced with methanol, a toxic substance found in fuel, solvents and anti-freeze products.
Jamie Johnston, from Newcastle, unknowingly drank a cocktail laced with methanol on the final night of her Indonesian island holiday.
When consumed, methanol can cause blindness, coma and death.
In 2009, 25 tourists died after drinking a contaminated batch of Arrack in Bali.
Christchurch Hospital emergency physicians Dr Paul Gee and Dr Elizabeth Martin said it was likely the woman drank a concoction contaminated with methanol from an illegal distillation of ethanol.
The doctors, outlining the case in the journal Emergency Medicine Australasia, said it was not uncommon for the symptoms of methanol poisoning to be delayed by up to 50 hours after consumption, as the body metabolised it.
"Most patients complain of anxiety, headache, nausea, vomiting and weakness,'' the doctors said.
"Visual symptoms include blurred vision, spots, photophobia and partial to complete visual loss.''
Arrack is a coconut flower, rice and sugarcane-based spirit which is produced commercially and illegally in Indonesia.
It is a different drink than Arak, a Middle Eastern anise-flavoured liquor.
"This case highlights the risk of consuming alcohol of unverified origin in South-East Asia,'' the authors said.
with AAP
3) Liam Davies' methanol poisoning initially treated as 'brain aneurysm'
- Phil Hickey
- PerthNow
-
January 10, 2013
4:02PM
Liam Davies, 19, had been celebrating with mates on New Year's Day when he became sick after drinking a vodka and lime mix containing the poison at Rudy's Bar on the holiday island of Lombok.
He was taken to a local hospital for treatment and later brought to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.
He died there at the weekend.
Today, his heartbroken family released a new statement in which they revealed Liam was misdiagnosed in an Indonesian hospital as having a brain aneurysm, before he was brought to Perth.
“The ICU team (at SCGH) quickly diagnosed Liam had methanol poisoning…despite all of their efforts too much time had passed before Liam received the correct medical attention,” the family statement said.
“We have decided to speak today in the hope that by sharing the tragic death of our son, we may be able to warn others and prevent this hideous crime from taking another life.
“Liam was a regular 19-year-old, working hard and loving life.
“He was excited about the future and his aspirations to travel and see the world.
“Liam did nothing wrong, he was enjoying a few drinks at a bar like anyone else would, you simply don’t expect to be served a drink that is lethal."
The two page statement released today by Liam’s family went on to say: “We hope that the Indonesian authorities aggressively investigate not only Liam’s death, but the many events where people have either died or been made seriously ill.
“Medical staff need to be trained on the signs and treatment of methanol poisoning as early intervention could have given us a different outcome, this situation cannot continue on."
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says the federal government must press Indonesia to regulate its drinks market.
Foreign
Minister Bob Carr had promised Australia would make "serious
representations'' to Indonesia about regulating its drinks market in
tourist areas.
Mr Barnett told reporters today that the only thing his government could do was support the federal government in a push to improve standards in Indonesia.
"It is a responsibility of the Australian government to pursue this diplomatically with the Indonesian authorities,'' he said.
"We do have a direct interest as a nation, given that Australia is probably the major source of international visitors to Bali.''
Mr Barnett said his message to West Australians who loved to travel to Bali was to take care and only consume pre-bottled drinks.
"Any tourist travelling anywhere, but particularly to developing nations like Indonesia, need to take particular care,'' he said.
"Countries such as Indonesia, and Bali in particular, don't have the sort of rules and regulations and inspections of food and beverage outlets that we have in Australia.''
4) Sydney schoolie 'blinded by Bali cocktail'
The 18-year-old woman from Sydney's lower north shore is one of a number of Australians who have had drinks spiked while holidaying on the Indonesian party island, The Sunday Telegraph reports.
The school leaver returned to Australia last week and is currently recovering at home after receiving treatment in Bali and at the Royal North Shore Hospital.
The hospital has not provided details on her condition but the effects of methanol poisoning can include vomiting, gastric pain, liver failure, comas and sometimes blindness and death.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr said other travellers had reported cases of drink-spiking in Bali but added that many cases go unreported.
"Spiked drinks might contain drugs, or they might contain poisons like methanol," he said.
"We're aware of one young Australian hospitalised in Indonesia after drinking what may have been methanol. I wish her all the best in her recovery."
Volunteer group Red Frogs, which tries to protect schoolies in Bali, said they had treated and hospitalised around five school leavers for methanol poisoning.
But Red Frogs Bali co-ordinator Paul Mergard fears there may be many more victims they are unaware of.
"We had some we sent to hospital who were quite sick but we probably didn't see the worst of what was happening because we took them to hospital where they were treated," Mr Megard said.
He said there was a need for more drink spiking awareness among schoolies.
Source: Sunday Telegraph
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