The Travel Doctor
Traveller's medical & vaccination centre
Health Alerts
Travel Doctor TMVC provides the latest health and travel alerts, including updates from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Press the back button to return to the list of health alerts.
Deaths from contaminated alcohol drinks in Bali
Wednesday, 10 June, 2009
A recently reported series of fatalities (including two tourists) in Bali from drinking rice wine (arak) contaminated with methanol serves as a reminder to a warning which we posted some 10 years ago about the dangers of drinking cheap local alcoholic brews. At that time the deaths that occurred were in Turkey but there have been similar outbreaks in Bali in the past for the same reasons. The price of imported alcohol is high and small local manufacturers operate in a poorly controlled environment. Profits are increased for the local manufacturer if the drink is adulterated but even unadulterated drinks may become contaminated In this instance the drink was stored in old containers used previously for storing antifreeze solution. Whilst it may seem exotic to partake of cheap home-made “traditional” drinks it is a whole lot safer to stick to established if more expensive brands.
