Rare disease
Alleged drunk driver acquitted in court: his body produced the alcohol itself
Rare disease Eigenbrauer syndrome: A Belgian man was repeatedly found drunk during traffic checks (symbolic image)
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A man went on trial in Belgium for allegedly driving while drunk. Then it turned out that he was suffering from a disease in which his body produces alcohol on its own.
A Belgian is accused of He was acquitted of drunk driving because he suffered from so-called home brewer’s syndrome. The 40-year-old – who also happened to be an employee of a brewery – was on trial in Bruges.
In self-brewer’s syndrome, the body itself produces liver-damaging alcohols, which lead to self-generated alcoholization in the affected person. People with the syndrome produce the same types of alcohol that are found in alcoholic drinks – but they perceive their effects more weakly, according to a biologist quoted in the Guardian.
EigenBrauer syndrome is not congenital
EigenBrauer syndrome is not congenital. Those affected sometimes show symptoms of alcohol poisoning such as slurred speech or loss of motor skills. According to the newspaper “De Standaard”, the Belgian was found to have significantly elevated blood alcohol levels several times during checks. As the Guardian reports, three doctors independently diagnosed the extremely rare anomaly in the man, which led to his exoneration.
By the way, you can read more about Eigenbrauer’s syndrome in the Stern Plus column “The Diagnosis”. An excerpt:
“The intestine is overpopulated with yeast fungi. These fungi are part of every healthy intestinal flora in small quantities, but in home brewer’s syndrome they multiply significantly. They trigger alcoholic fermentation – alcohol is formed in the intestine from carbohydrates, such as a bread roll . The underlying cause is often unclear as there are very few documented cases of EigenBrauer’s syndrome. However, most of those affected who have been reported in the specialist literature have previously suffered from a disease of the gastrointestinal tract.
Sources: “Guardian“, “De Standard“
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