Methanol poisoning has been a significant public health challenge for several decades in Iran. Even though alcohol use is highly criminalized, people consume illicit alcohol, which tends to be predominantly homemade and often contains methanol. Consequently, thousands of individual poisonings and hundreds of deaths annually are attributable to methanol poisoning. From February 19, 2020 through April 27, 2020, the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic rapidly expanded in Iran, and has been associated with 90,481 confirmed cases and 5710 confirmed deaths. Secondary to misinformation about the potential for alcohol to neutralize SARS-CoV-2, there has also been a significant escalation in methanol-related morbidity and mortality, with over 5000 people poisoned and over 500 confirmed deaths for the same period from February through April 2020. In some provinces, the case-fatality rate of methanol poisoning was higher than that from COVID-19. The high morbidity and mortality associated with methanol poisoning preceding and exacerbated by COVID-19 highlight the potential population level health impacts of the implementation of evidence-based education and harm reduction strategies focused on alcohol use across Iran.

在伊朗几十年来，甲醇中毒一直是重大的公共卫生挑战。即使将饮酒定为犯罪，人们仍会饮用非法酒精，非法酒精主要是自制的，经常含有甲醇。因此，每年甲醇中毒可导致数千起个人中毒和数百人死亡。从2020年2月19日到2020年4月27日，2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）流行病在伊朗迅速蔓延，并与90,481例确诊病例和5710例确认死亡相关。除了关于酒精中和SARS-CoV-2潜力的错误信息外，甲醇相关的发病率和死亡率也有显着上升，在从2020年2月到2020年4月的同一时间里，有5000多人中毒，500例确认死亡。在一些省份，甲醇中毒的病死率高于COVID-19。在COVID-19发生之前和加剧的与甲醇中毒相关的高发病率和死亡率，突出表明了在伊朗各地实施以证据为基础的循证教育和减少伤害战略对人口健康的潜在影响。