A Belgian man charged with drink driving has had the shell against him dismissed after proving that he has auto - brewery syndrome ( ABS ) , a rare condition that causes patient to brew inebriant inside their stomachs .

In April 2022 , the 40 - yr - old patient role was blame after being breathalyze by police , showing an alcohol horizontal surface of 0.91 milligrams of alcohol per liter exhaled , well above Belgium ’s limitation of 0.22 mg per liter , despite not drinking alcohol . He had antecedently been ticket and had his license suspended in 2019 for potable driving , again without experience drunk alcohol beforehand .

The world , who has not been named , was not cognisant of his ABS until his latest arrest , AFP reports . Also known as catgut ferment syndrome , ABS causes the digestive system to bring on enough ethanol to get you intoxicated .

All people ’s guts produce a minor amount of intoxicant whilst stand sugary and buckram food , but when certain bacteria ( such asKlebsiella pneumonia , Enterococcus faecium , E. faecalis , and Citrobacter freundii ) or barm ( includingSaccharomyces cerevisiaeandS. boulardii ) are present in your arrangement , a lot more grain alcohol can be produce . Several case have been describe in recent years , normally involvingbaffled patientsbeing arrested for potable driving after drinking nothing and eating something like bread or basmati rice .

patient role are often tell apart to avoid carbohydrates , full of life to the brewing process whether it ’s in your venter or the Guinness factory . There are a few treatments ( includingpoop transplants ) useable for the few patients with the syndrome .

" Anything that cause an unbalance between harmful and beneficial bacteria can potentially increase fermentation in the gut . Antibiotics should be forfend if potential . If a course of antibiotic is required , a program should be in station to again test for fermenting pathogens and address if necessary , " areviewon the topic explain .

" In single and various combination , dietetical saccharide controller , antifungal or antibiotic therapy , general antibiotic dodging , and probiotics have all been reported as successful treatments . However , patients with long - condition , continuing reversion may need fecal microbiota transplants . "

kick in the oddity of the syndrome , patient role are in the main unaware of what is break down on , and loosely report neurological symptoms , chronic fatigue , nausea , and other symptom you would generally associate with being drunk if you had consumed alcohol beforehand .

The Belgian man , now that charges have been dropped , has reduced his sugar aspiration to trim alcohol production inside his stomach .