Overview

• Brazil’s Health Ministry reports 195 notifications of methanol intoxication linked to alcoholic beverages, including 14 confirmed cases and 181 under investigation across multiple states.
• São Paulo state lists 162 records, with 14 laboratory-confirmed cases and two deaths in the capital, plus seven additional deaths under investigation in São Paulo, São Bernardo do Campo and Cajuru.
• Police operations in São Paulo have led to 41 arrests, the interdiction of 11 establishments and the seizure of thousands of bottles and labels as supply chains are traced.
• Federal health officials announced the purchase of 2,500 courses of fomepizole and expanded stocks of pharmaceutical ethanol to support treatment across the public hospital network.
• Authorities’ main working hypothesis is methanol contamination during bottle cleaning or adulteration of distilled spirits, and the public is urged to avoid drinks of uncertain origin.