A hard-drinking 3-year-old has been diagnosed as Britain's youngest ever alcoholic.
Doctors treated the unnamed child for withdrawal systems after the toddler suffered the shakes and wild mood swings.
Experts suspect the youngster would have to have been given booze repeatedly over at least a six-month period to develop such a dependency.
"To be diagnosed an alcoholic ... they would have had to ingest enough to cause withdrawal symptoms," Nicolay Sorenson of advocacy group Alcohol Concern told The Telegraph.
"Whatever the circumstances, it is a truly horrifying case and raises very serious child protection issues."
The youngster was one of 13 people under the age of 12 who were diagnosed as alcoholics by Britain's National Health Service between 2008 and 2010.
"We treat alcohol abuse very seriously, and have specialist teams and experts on hand who are there to treat young patients with alcohol-related problems," said an NHS spokeswoman.
Health officials declined to give details of the 3-year-old's condition or disclose the toddler's identity due to patient confidentiality rules.
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