acidosis

a condition in which the acidity of the BLOOD and body fluids rises to an abnormally high level as a result of a failure in the mechanisms that regulate the acid/base balance in the body. It is commonly caused by a faulty METABOLISM , as in DIABETES MELLITUS , or during starvation and excessive vomiting. It may also have a respiratory origin, e.g. during drowning when a higher than normal level of carbon dioxide is retained in the body. It also occurs as a result of kidney failure (renal acidosis), when too much sulphuric and phosphoric acid are retained within body or an excess of bicarbonate is excreted.