One man felt drunk even though he did not drink alcohol.
The 47-year-old man had intestinal fermentation syndrome, also called auto-brewing syndrome (ABS). This rare condition involves excessive mold growth in the gut that feeds on carbohydrates and then fuels ethanol production. Often, ABS is linked to too much yeast in the gut.
Clinicians tried to put the patient on a low-carbohydrate diet and course of antifungals, but signs of intoxication were sustained, according to a case study published this month in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Auto-brewing syndrome is a rare condition in which excessive mold growth goes into the gut and ethanol production, causing the person to become intoxicated.
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The intoxication was so chronic that the man himself “lost his driver’s license after a random police check,” according to an Insider report.
Clinicians then looked at fecal microbiota transplantation, or in other words, a poop transplant. Bacteria in the feces were transferred to the patient’s small intestine. The transplant came from the man’s 22-year-old daughter and his symptoms were resolved, at least until his last follow-up at 34 months, according to the outlet.
The authors of the report said the case is believed to be the “first successful treatment of a patient with chronic intestinal fermentation syndrome using fecal microbiota transplantation.”
Fecal transplants should be considered in similar cases, researchers said, per insider.
Those with diabetes, cirrhosis, or people who have indigestion have a higher risk of auto-brewing syndrome because the mold feeds on elevated blood sugar, the outlet reported.
THE GOOD BACTERIA of man makes himself ‘drunk’ without consuming alcohol, reports report
In recent years, there have been other reports of auto-brewing syndrome, also referred to as ‘drunkenness disease.’ In October, for example, a case study published in BMJ Open Gastroenterology published the experience of one man with the syndrome he said he had developed after finishing a round of antibiotics.
In a separate copy, doctors detailed an ABS case of a Chinese man. The amount of alcohol-producing bacteria in his gut led him to potentially develop non-alcoholic fatty liver disease that had “seriously” damaged his liver, according to a report at the time.
Fox News’ Madeline Farber contributed to this report.
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