A poisoned Italian man turned up at a hospital in Brisbane, Australia. He had ingested a large quantity of ethylene glycol. Drinking ethylene glycol causes depression, labored breathing, heart palpitations, renal failure, brain damage and death. It is also one of the active ingredients in antifreeze.
If you don't know what antifreeze is, find your nearest 81' Pontiac Grand Prix. There will be a puddle of it underneath the engine. Trust me.
Antifreeze is full of alcohol and alcohol-like chemicals, and people will drink it to get drunk. There are over 3,400 cases of human ethylene-glycol poisoning a year. Nearly 80% percent of those cases are full-grown adults who know what they are drinking.
I'm sure that every now and then some redneck sets down his Mason jar full of electric-green Kool-Aid next to the Mason jar where he keeps his antifreeze. Then the old switcharoo occurs and Billy Joe Bob Jim Jack Joe Bob Bill Clampett, Jr. has to hightail it to the emergency room. Most of the cases are not as innocent as mislabeled jars.
The cure for antifreeze poisoning is alcohol. (It''s like treating diabetes with Charleston Chews.) It inhibits the toxicity of the ethylene glycol.
When Australian paramedics brought the Italian man to the hospital, they hooked him up and started dripping medical-grade alcohol into his veins. The hospital was low on their supply of alcohol and quickly ran out.
Apparently, the Italian man had been at the hospital before he found the antifreeze.
The Australian doctors had to go to the store and buy a case of vodka. They dripped about three drinks an hour into the man's veins. They had to keep the poor guy drunk to keep him alive. That will teach him.
If you're thinking about drinking antifreeze, let a nephrologist talk you out of it. Actually, any doctor you talk to will tell you it's a foolish thing to do. Click here.
