A couple in Hanoi were hospitalized because they drank the wrong car engine coolant

It is known that the couple (in Long Bien, Hanoi) was given 2 cans of water by an acquaintance, 1 blue, 1 red, and did not give further instructions. Looking at the can, the couple thought it was beer and carbonated soft drinks, so they spent the evening drinking during the meal. Seeing that the water had no taste, they looked it up online according to the words on the can, and found out that it was car engine coolant. Two people were rushed to the hospital at 108 Military Central Hospital. The patient was gastric lavage at the Emergency Department and transferred to the Intensive Care Center for monitoring. Thanks to timely detection and management, these two patients fortunately did not have any serious symptoms, and were discharged after 3 days.

This is an alarm bell for everyone to carefully read labels, ingredients and uses before eating to avoid unfortunate confusion. In this case, the shape and color of the label is quite similar to that of Coca-Cola and beer cans, the writing on the can is entirely in English, without any Vietnamese sub-labels (most likely hand-carried or imported goods). official) so it is easy to confuse users, especially the elderly, children and limited in foreign languages.

Doctor CKI Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang, Department of Internal Medicine and Toxicology, Center for Critical Care, said that scientifically, this water has the main ingredient is Ethylene glycol, a colorless liquid. The smell, sweetness has a cooling and anti-freezing effect used in internal combustion engines. When entering the body, it will break down into glycolic acid and oxalic acid, causing acidosis, increased blood osmotic pressure gap, abdominal pain, vomiting, severe kidney failure, brain damage, low blood pressure and death. death.

According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang, if it is detected that the wrong cooling water is drunk, people should immediately induce vomiting, wash the stomach and quickly go to the nearest medical facility for timely monitoring and treatment.

“Each person needs to be careful to protect their health, not to use anything that is uncertain about the origin, nature and use of the product. Manufacturers also need to have clear warnings on the product. products, with sub-labels in Vietnamese with imported products to avoid unfortunate confusion.”– BS Trang said.