January 9 In History: Mass Poisoning Due To Beer In Mozambique Kills 72 People

A traditional Mozambique drink. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - On January 9, 2015, people in Chitima, Mozambique, attended a funeral ceremony. They gathered and drank the beer provided. However, after drinking the beer, there was mass poisoning. The mass poisoning left 72 people dead and more than 230 people had to get treatment.

"As we prepared to determine the cause of death of a person, we started receiving a lot of people with diarrhea and other muscle aches. After that, we started receiving bodies from several neighborhoods," Paula Bernardo, district health director, Women and Social Action, told the public. .

To quote the Washington Post, Saturday January 9, the authorities believe that the beer was poisoned as the mourners headed for the funeral which took the whole day. But there are few clues as to their cause or motivation. Those who drank the drink in the morning had no signs of illness. But those who drank in the afternoon felt pain the next day. The woman who brewed the beer was also a victim.

The mourners who attended drank a beer known as pombe, a traditional Mozambican beer. The drink is made from millet or corn flour and steeped for about two days. The drink is often served in various ceremonies and sold in rural areas of the country.

Following this event, the Mozambique Government announced three days of national mourning. The leader of the opposition Renamo party, Afonso Dhlakama, has even postponed a political campaign to travel to the region to meet the families of the victims, according to local newspaper O Pais. The authorities collected clothes, food and coffins for the bereaved families.

The tragedy also drew international attention over what health officials said was an unusual source of the poison: aloe bile. Carle Mosse, the provincial health director, said that some people suspected the drink was poisoned with crocodile bile. Likewise with the health worker, Alex Albertini.

Research on the content of aloe bile is not easy to find in the scientific literature. The examination of crocodile bile for poison appears to be a 30-year-old paper by NZ Nyazema

The study noted that bile from aloe's gallbladder (also known as "nduru") has long been rumored to be a potent poison. Often associated with poisoning on special occasions, such as funerals.

This poisoning case also attracted the attention of WHO. The WHO added that "the most common cause of mass poisoning associated with homemade drinks is methanol, which is added to make the drink stronger."

"With methanol, it is important to carry out very timely blood sample testing, otherwise traces may be difficult to detect," said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier.

But in 2017, there was research published by the IDSA which stated that the toxic levels of bongkrekic acid (BA) were detected in pombe served at the funeral ceremony. Burkholderia gladioli pathovar cocovenenans, a bacterium that produces BA, was detected in the flour used to make pombe.

The study said that given that no previous outbreaks had been identified outside of Asia, investigations suggest that BA may have been the cause of the mass poisoning. The issue that the drink was laced with crocodile bile was denied.