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A British patient was diagnosed with rare auto-brewing syndrome after being removed from an organ list because of her alleged alcoholism.
In Britain, a 61-year-old patient was refused a liver transplant suspected by doctors of hiding her alcoholism. And for good reason, after several medical tests, the doctors found ethanol in his urine. Faced with the patient’s claims that she was completely sober, the doctors subjected her to a whole series of other tests. To finally discover that the patient was telling the truth and that she suffered from auto-brewery syndrome, reports the British press.
As researchers at the University of Pittsburgh explain, this self-brewing syndrome is caused by the presence of natural bacteria and yeasts that cause a fermentation process in patients’ bodies. “It is normal to find this yeast in the body. I probably have it, and so do you, “said Kenichi Tamama, the study’s principal investigator.
In the bladder and not the intestine
In this case, it was the patient’s underlying disease, poorly treated diabetes, that would have allowed the alcohol to ferment. “The patient’s urine contained a very high amount of glucose, which is used as food by the yeast,” he said. The phenomenon that occurred in his bladder was therefore similar to that used to produce beer.
If cases of auto-brewing syndrome have been reported in the past, this is the first time that a patient’s bladder has produced alcohol. In all other cases identified, alcohol was produced in the patient’s intestine. And unlike the other cases studied, the patient showed no signs of side effects. A first trial of treatment with antifungal drugs has been unsuccessful.
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