Methanol Poisoning in Ondo State: What We Know About the 48 Deaths

At least 48 people have died in Ondo State in southern Nigeria after drinking a locally brewed alcohol suspected to contain methanol. The cases were reported in Odigbo and Irele local government areas, with the toll confirmed on September 18, 2026. The Guardian

Ondo State Commissioner for Health Banji Ajaka said 182 people are believed to have been affected. About 100 others were receiving treatment. The toll is still evolving.

Local media reported the first death nearly two weeks before September 18. Locals suspected a popular high-alcohol herbal drink known as "Monkey Tail" was mixed with methanol. Ajaka said the suspected drink can cause kidney failure, vision loss and brain damage depending on the amount consumed.

Methanol is a toxic type of alcohol, different from the ethanol in normal drinks. Its harm depends on dose and how quickly a person gets treatment. In the body it breaks down into formic acid, which can damage vision, kidneys and the brain.

Ondo State police spokesperson Abayomi Jimoh said 15 people were arrested in connection with the incident. One person arrested for allegedly producing substances suspected to contain methanol is assisting police with investigations. Investigators have not detailed charges or the supply chain under examination.

Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control is enforcing a nationwide ban on alcohol in sachets and small plastic containers. The measure targets cheap, portable alcohol formats with wide retail distribution. Enforcement focuses on manufacture and sale in those pack sizes.

The broader context here is control of an informal product that sits outside routine inspection. Small-batch herbal alcohol is produced, blended and sold through decentralized networks. Raw inputs can be substituted or mixed with harmful chemicals without detection until people become sick. Packaging restrictions can reduce availability of certain commercial products, but they do not directly cover artisanal brewing, on-site mixing, or diversion of industrial-grade methanol into drinks.

Looking at what this means for response, three operational questions dominate. The first is toxicovigilance, or early detection of methanol versus ethanol poisoning, which changes triage, referral and antidote treatment and requires lab confirmation and clinical pattern recognition. The second is risk communication. Warnings must reach drinkers of the specific product without driving consumption underground or harming cooperation with contact tracing. The third is source control. Arrests may disrupt one node, but sustained control requires mapping producers, suppliers of methanol-containing substances, and retail points across the two local government areas.

In my view, the timeline deserves close attention from health officials and reporters alike. Nearly two weeks between the first reported death and consolidated official figures suggests initial cases were managed locally, misclassified, or not linked. That pattern raises questions about surveillance sensitivity, sample testing capacity, and information flow between community leaders, primary care sites, hospitals, and state authorities. It also shapes the denominator. The figure of 182 believed affected will likely be revised as retrospective case finding proceeds and as those now under treatment either recover or deteriorate.