Thais die of alcohol poisoning than coldness

BANGKOK, 6 January 2011 (NNT) – The Public Health Ministry has reported that 28 out of 30 people initially presumed dead from winter coldness actually died of alcohol poisoning.

According to Deputy Public Health Minister Dr Phansiri Kullanartsiri, since winter began on 5 November 2010 until 29 January 2011, 30 people were reported dead from winter related causes.

The Bureau of Epidemiology under the Department of Disease Control stated that 28 out of these 30 dead were caused by alcohol poisoning because they were not in the winter disaster zones nor wearing warm clothes. Therefore Dr Phansiri concluded the number of people who died from winter this year so far was only two.

She said 85 percent of those who died of alcohol were male, and 63 percent were alcoholics or drinking just before they died. She added more than half of them had congenital diseases such as heart disease, asthma, high blood pressure, chronic lung disease, and epilepsy.

The Deputy Minister advised people in winter disaster zones to wear warm clothes, refrain from alcoholic beverages because alcohol could not protect them from coldness.