A teetotaler woman ends up intoxicated, reeking of alcohol like a skunk, and hospitalized.
A woman, a mother of two, repeatedly ends up in the hospital due to levels of alcohol in her blood that should indicate intoxication. However, she swears she hasn't had a drop to drink. This puzzles hospital staff, and they begin to investigate the strange case.
Over the course of two years, this Canadian woman had to be hospitalized seven times due to alleged alcohol poisoning. Initially, it seemed like a classic case of alcoholism. Yet, the woman had abstained from alcohol for years. Doctors found herself baffled, questioning how this could be possible. They wrote about this peculiar case in the Canadian Medical Association's journal.
Before this, the woman had never been a heavy drinker. On rare occasions, she would have a glass of wine during vacations. But later on, due to her religious beliefs, she stopped drinking alcohol entirely. Despite this, she began experiencing excessive drowsiness and a few other symptoms that hinted at alcohol intoxication, such as stumbling and slurred speech. During hospital visits, doctors always found alcohol in her bloodstream. Her family confirmed that she hadn't been consuming any alcohol.
Doctors performed a head CT scan, but the results didn't show any abnormalities. Psychiatrists from the addiction medicine department also doubted the woman's alcohol addiction, given her responses to questions about her drinking habits.
Could there be a rare explanation for high alcohol levels?
During her seventh visit to the hospital, doctors found an alcohol level of around 2.8% in her blood - dangerously close to unconsciousness. Given her claims of abstinence and her family's confirmation, the emergency room doctor suspected auto-brewery syndrome.
This rare condition is caused by an overgrowth of specific alcohol-producing yeast or bacteria in the digestive system. When the immune system or gut flora becomes weak due to antibiotics, these microorganisms can overtake the body and effectively turn it into a type of brewery, producing large amounts of alcohol, especially during carbohydrate metabolism. Afflicted individuals may exhibit symptoms such as babbling or stumbling.
Could antibiotics be the cause?
The emergency room doctor prescribed the woman medication for a fungal infection and referred her to a gastroenterologist. He advised her to follow a low-carbohydrate diet. Her symptoms quickly disappeared after that. However, when she went back to consuming more carbs, her symptoms returned, and she suffered another relapse. She was then given antibiotics and put back on a low-carb diet, and her symptoms disappeared again. Later, she was given specialized probiotics to help restore her gut flora to normal levels.
This time, the treatment worked. Six months later, her blood alcohol levels were virtually undetectable following a testing procedure involving a glucose syrup solution. Doctors suspect repeated antibiotic use for urinary tract infections may have contributed to the overgrowth of the gut. Genetic factors may also be at play, according to the report's authors.
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In a review of cases published in 2020, only 20 patients had been identified in the English medical literature since 1974. Auto-brewery syndrome was first described in Japan in 1952 as Meitei-sho, which means "Alcohol-Autointoxication Syndrome."
The latest publicly known case is a 40-year-old man from Bruges, Belgium, who was repeatedly stopped by police for driving under the influence of alcohol. In April 2022, police detected alcohol levels once again, and he was charged. The man disputed the charges, arguing that his condition caused the high alcohol levels beyond his control. A court recently ruled in his favor.
This text originally appeared on stern.de.
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Despite abstaining from alcohol, the woman's illness continued, with doctors finding alcohol in her blood during hospital visits. This puzzled healthcare professionals, leading them to investigate further. The woman's case was complex, with no clear signs of alcohol consumption or addiction.
The hospital staff's investigation led to the discovery of auto-brewery syndrome, a rare condition caused by an overgrowth of alcohol-producing yeast or bacteria in the digestive system. This overgrowth can occur due to a weakened immune system or disrupted gut flora, often as a result of antibiotics.
The woman's recurring antibiotic use for urinary tract infections was suspected as a potential cause of the overgrowth. Once she was placed on a low-carb diet and given specialized probiotics, her symptoms disappeared, and her blood alcohol levels returned to normal.
The woman's case reaffirmed the existence of auto-brewery syndrome, a condition rarely documented in medical literature. This syndrome, first described in 1952, can lead to false charges of drinking and driving, as seen in a Belgian man who successfully defended himself in court.
