Toll from Cuba alcohol poisoning climbs to 11

Toll from Cuba alcohol poisoning climbs to 11
Agence France-Presse
Posted at 08/03/2013 8:52 AM

HAVANA - Eleven people have died in Cuba after consuming alcohol sold
illegally on the street, according to an updated toll out Friday.

"Four people remain in critical condition, two of whom are receiving
hemodialysis," Efren Acosta, deputy director of Havana's provincial
health department, said.

At least 60 people have been hospitalized since the poisoning was first
detected on Monday, Acosta said.

Until now all deaths had occurred in Havana's western La Lisa
neighborhood, but the 11th happened on the opposite side of town.

Authorities say laboratory alcohol was stolen by two employees of a
state-run pharmacy institute and then sold on the street.

Methyl alcohol, or methanol, has similar characteristics to ethyl
alcohol, or ethanol, which is what gives alcoholic beverages their
intoxicating effect.

Methanol is commonly used in scientific laboratories, but if ingested
can cause blindness or death.

The average monthly income in Cuba is 20 dollars, and many people buy
food and drink of unknown origin on the black market because it is cheaper.

Cuba, the last one-party communist state in the Western Hemisphere, has
been under a US economic embargo for more than half a century.

Source: "Toll from Cuba alcohol poisoning climbs to 11 | ABS-CBN News" -
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/08/03/13/toll-cuba-alcohol-poisoning-climbs-11