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Didacus Malowa, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.
A court has dismissed a drink-driving charge against a man after he was found to be suffering from a rare condition.
The 40-year-old Belgian man was reportedly acquitted of all charges after it became apparent that he has auto-brewery syndrome (ABS)
His lawyer, Anse Ghesquiere, revealed that the rare metabolic condition had his client's body continuously producing alcohol.
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A report by The Guardian indicated that the defendant, who was not named in line with local judicial custom, did not experience symptoms of inebriation.
The man was arrested after police in April 2022 pulled his vehicle over and registered him, giving a breathalyser reading of 0.91 milligrams of alcohol per litre, and again a month later when his breath contained 0.71 milligrams.
This was way above the legal limit in Belgium, which is 0.22 milligrams per litre of air exhaled.
In 2019, the middle-aged man received a fine and a driving licence suspension for recording above the limit despite insisting he hadn't been drinking.
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), Auto-brewery syndrome or gut fermentation syndrome is a condition in which ethanol is produced through endogenous fermentation by fungi or bacteria in the gastrointestinal (GI) system, oral cavity, or urinary system.
ABS causes carbohydrates in one's stomach to be fermented, increasing ethanol levels in the blood and resulting in signs of intoxication.
People are not born with ABS but can develop it when they already have another intestine-related condition.
The patients can present with symptoms consistent with alcohol intoxication, such as slurred speech, stumbling, loss of motor functions, dizziness and belching.
Separately, a father noticed that he couldn't drive himself home after partying all night in a local club.
At 5:30 a.m., he decided to cut his daughter's sleep short and asked her to take him back home.
In the clip, the daughter took an Uber from her apartment to the bar where her dad was. She drove him home in his car and returned to her apartment.
Proofreading by Asher Omondi, current affairs journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
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