NCJ Number
190850
Journal
Clinical Forensic Medicine Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2000 Pages: 144-146
Date Published
September 2000
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This study examines misleading results of ethanol analysis in urine specimens from rape victims suffering from diabetes.
Abstract
The study reports appreciably high concentrations of ethanol (82 and 102 mg/dL) in urine specimens collected from two victims of date rape. Both girls (aged 15 and 18 years) suffered from diabetes mellitus, and adamantly denied drinking any alcohol before or after the incident. The presence of glycosuria and high risk of fungal infections in female diabetics suggests that ethanol was produced in vitro by fermentation after voiding. Making a routine test for sugar in the urine and ensuring that the sampling tubes contain sufficient sodium or potassium fluoride to inhibit glycolysis are recommended practices. A specific marker for post-sampling synthesis of ethanol might also be used such as the 5HTOL/5HIAA ratio. The article describes lessons learned from these cases: (1) care is needed when urinary ethanol is measured in diabetic patients with genital candidiasis; (2) tubes used to collect urine for alcohol analysis should always contain at least 1 percent sodium or potassium fluoride to prevent fermentation of any glucose that might be present; (3) a rapid dip-stick test for glycosuria should be applied routinely whenever urine specimens are found to contain ethanol; and (4) if post-sampling synthesis of ethanol is suspected, an aliquot of the urine specimen should be kept at room temperature in an airtight tube for a few days and then reanalyzed. Table, references