A woman has been
diagnosed with a never-before-seen condition after doctors discovered she was
urinating alcohol despite not drinking a single drop.
The unnamed patient,
61, has become the first person in the world to be diagnosed with ‘urinary
auto-brewery syndrome’ caused by yeast in her bladder that ferments sugar in
her urine to produce alcohol.
The process is almost
exactly the same as one used by beer makers – but it was happening in her own
body. At first medics suspected she may have been hiding an alcohol addiction
when urine tests for the drug were repeatedly positive. Medics at the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center discovered the condition which has
never been diagnosed before
Kenichi Tamama at the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian Hospital said the woman –
who has diabetes and liver cirrhosis – was recommended for a liver transplant
but taken off a donor waiting list and referred for alcohol abuse treatment
instead, despite denying ever drinking alcohol.
Further blood tests
for metabolites of ethanol were negative – meaning the woman did not have
alcohol in her blood. Specialists at the university instead found high levels
of Candida glabrata, a yeast naturally produced by the body, were accumulating
in her bladder when she ingested sugar.
The yeast is similar
to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a fungus known as brewer’s yeast because it’s used
by beer-makers to convert carbohydrates in grains into alcohol. Tests showed
this conversion process was taking place inside her bladder. Kenichi said: ‘The
doctors were surprised and shocked. Initially, clinicians thought the patient
was not honest about disclosing her alcohol usage. This alcohol thing has been
haunting her.’
Kenichi and his
colleagues named the woman’s condition ‘urinary auto-brewery syndrome’ and are
now calling for doctors to be aware of the condition so patients are not
wrongly labelled alcoholics.