Overview

• Federal data list 246 notifications with 29 confirmed methanol poisonings and five deaths, with 217 cases still under investigation across multiple states.
• The Health Ministry has begun distributing 2,500 doses of fomepizol purchased via PAHO, sending 1,500 units to states including 288 to São Paulo, with 1,000 kept in federal reserve.
• Anvisa approved emergency domestic production of pharmaceutical injectable ethanol, and Cristália will produce and donate the first lot to the ministry for SUS use.
• Police dismantled a clandestine bottling site in São Bernardo do Campo; forensic tests found up to about 45% methanol in seized bottles, and investigators are evaluating a working hypothesis that contaminated ethanol from fuel stations entered illicit supply chains.
• Authorities issued unified clinical and lab guidance to states, reported discarded suspects such as a Minas Gerais death ruled out by testing, and warned consumers about fraudulent online ‘methanol test’ offers with no validated retail kits available.