Recently a 61-year-old man from Texas was taken to a nearby emergency room complaining about dizziness. Doctors thought the man appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and decided to perform a DWI Breathalyzer test. The test showed that the man was indeed impaired, with a BAC of 0.37 percent, nearly five times the state’s legal limit.

OK, so far the case seem pretty standard, an awfully high BAC but nothing terribly out of the ordinary. What makes the case truly remarkable is that the man had not consumed a single alcoholic beverage that day. The day of the hospitalization was an extreme example of a problem that had been plaguing Cordell for months.

According to Cordell’s wife, her husband had to deal with random bouts of drunkenness, none that appeared to have anything to do with his alcohol intake. Cordell would suddenly begin acting drunk at bizarre times, after church on Sunday mornings, in the middle of a day of errands, all times where he could not have been drinking. Despite protests by Cordell and his wife, doctors insisted that Cordell must have been a closet drinker, brushing off the incidents as well hidden lies.

Finally, a gastroenterologist in a nearby town took his complaints seriously and decided to put his claims to the test. The doctor and his team then placed Cordell in an isolated hospital room for a 24-hour observation, making sure to search his belongings for alcohol. While in the secure room doctors were stunned as Cordell’s BAC rose as high as 0.12 percent, more than enough to get him arrested for drunk driving.

After being placed under observation, doctors finally found the problem: Cordell’s unusually large supply of yeast in his intestinal tract. Doctors figured out that Cordell had been suffering from an infection of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, something that made his own intestines act as a personal microbrewery. Cordell’s doctor discovered that every time Cordell consumed carbohydrates or starch, including bread, pasta or even soft drinks, the sugars would be broken down into ethanol and he would make himself drunk.

Cordell’s case was so novel that his doctor wrote a paper on the subject and published it into the International Journal of Clinical Medicine, dubbing his disorder “auto-brewery syndrome.” The paper noted that there have been other similar cases in the past, several in Japan dating back decades and even one other in Texas. In many cases the affliction begins after someone consumes an antibiotic, which allows the natural amounts of yeast to spread. Potential fakers beware, experts say the rarity of the condition will mean defendants will have their work cut out for them if they think they can use the excuse as a Get Out Of Jail Free card the next time they are pulled over for a DWI.

Regardless, there are certain medical conditions that can affect the result of a breathalyzer device which tests for alcohol concentration. If you have been arrested for an alcohol related driving offense in Minnesota and feel that your test may have been compromised due to a medical condition, feel free to contact the Minneapolis, MN DWI Attorneys at Kans Law Firm, LLC.

Source: “Auto-Brewery Syndrome: Apparently, You Can Make Beer In Your Gut,” by Michaeleen Doucleff, published at NPR.org.