The man was stopped and blew positive into the police breathalyzer on two occasions within the space of one month in 2022. Both times over the legal blood alcohol level. Despite that, he was recently acquitted of drunk driving charges.
This after it was established that the man suffers from the extremely rare disease “auto-brewery syndrome” (ABS), writes several media.
Worked at a brewery: “Unfortunate coincidence”
The man worked at a brewery. An “unfortunate coincidence”, says the man’s lawyer. The trial took place in the city of Bruges.
The man was convicted of drunk driving in 2019 and was surprised as he had not been drinking at the time. According to reports from the first occasion in 2022, when he was stopped at 4pm, he allegedly drank two beers the day before and became pensive again.
Now three independent doctors have examined him and confirmed that he suffers from ABS, write The Guardian.
Same symptoms
There he was fed sugar-rich food for a day and then you could see that the carbohydrates had been converted into alcohol.
Lisa Florin, a clinical biologist at the Belgian hospital AZ Sint-Lucas, tells the paper that the alcohol produced in those suffering from the disease is exactly the same as found in alcoholic beverages. Even symptoms such as slurred speech and impaired balance are identical.
People are not born with ABS but it can develop from other intestinal diseases.
Despite his illness, the man has not been banned from driving. However, he has been asked to take measures such as dietary changes and to introduce an alcohol lock in the car, according to Sky News.