A Taiwanese woman died of alcohol overdose after spending twelve hours in a bathtub filled with 40% ethanol as a desperate step to shield herself from an epidemic in 2004.
HAMBURG, GERMANY - JANUARY 13: Water flows from a showerhead to prepare a foam bath on January 13, 2007, in Hamburg, Germany.
The 45-year-old woman placed herself in the fluid from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. the next day, claiming it would deter SARS. Her family discovered her dead at 11 a.m. the next day.
The SARS epidemic of 2002-2004 infected 8,096 people in over 30 countries, with 774 people dying due to the disease. Taiwan was one of the countries affected by the virus.
Between March and June 2003, the Taiwan CDC reported 664 probable SARS cases in the region, with 346 confirmed via PCR or antibody tests. Seventy-three of the confirmed cases were fatal.
Too Much Alcohol on Skin Could Be Lethal!
The medical case study researchers documented the incident and published the results in Forensic Science International in 2005. The woman's head was above the fluid level when the family found the woman in the bathtub.
Since the bathtub was too shallow for her to carry her whole body in, the researchers conclude she did not drink a significant volume of alcohol. She still didn't exhibit any signs of trauma, drug ingestion, or drowning.
The researchers wrote in their study, "Fatal Alcohol Immersion During the Sars Epidemic in Taiwan," that the woman's skin absorbed or ingested the alcohol.
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"Alcohol (ethanol) can be absorbed through the skin, but intoxication caused by skin absorption is rare, especially in adults," they wrote. "Nevertheless, she might have inhaled some alcohol, which would have accelerated her intoxication."
Researchers estimated the woman's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to be 1,350 milligrams per 100 milliliters (1.35 percent) of blood.
A blood alcohol concentration of 0.4 percent can be lethal. According to the writers' estimates, she would have had to drink 1.5 liters of 40% alcohol to hit this BAC.
Researchers said alcohol levels might have hampered her ability to crawl out of the bathtub once her BAC hit a certain amount.
Serious Side Effects of Alcohol-Based Skin Disinfection Are Rare
Although this situation is surprising and devastating, serious side effects from alcohol-based skin disinfection are rare.
"Published studies to date have shown that after using the hand rubs, alcohol levels found in the blood are insignificant (ethanol) or not detectable (iso-propyl)," WHO Q&A page on the risks of alcohol-based hand rubs wrote.
The authors of the case study concluded that when people are faced with a crisis like the SARS epidemic, they may resort to drastic measures.
Although we may be tempted to take urgent action in times of need, it is always wise to heed healthcare professionals' advice. If you're trying to get drunk or fight sickness, it's not a good idea to bathe in alcohol.
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