Doctors baffled after man gets food poisoning in his penis in world-first case

Just when you think food poisoning couldn't get any worse, one man found out it really can after suffering a rather embarrassing side effect in a world-first case.

If you happen to be eating when clicking on this article, then best stop now.

Doctors in Lebanon have revealed they'd treated a 38-year-old man who had contracted a rather unusual bacterial infection in his penis.

While infections and sexually transmitted diseases are, of course, relatively common in the nether regions, medics were left stumped by the man's strange symptoms, which looked more like food poisoning than anything else.

Food poisoning doesn't usually show up in the genitals (Getty Images)

The NHS states that food poisoning is caused by eating contaminated food and while it's usually not serious, symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain among other symptoms.

The problem with that is, it had never been found in that area of human anatomy before.

Due to it's frankly bizarre nature, the situation has been logged in the Annals of Medicine and Surgery as the 'first case in literature describing such an entity'.

So, how did it happen?

The father-of-two reportedly appeared before doctors at the American University of Beirut Medical Center with signs of an infection.

He'd been suffering from redness, swelling and scabbing in his genital area for about a week that had occurred after an episode of severe vomiting and diarrhoea - which led him to soil the area.

They swabbed his scabbed penis and the test results only puzzled medics more as a type of bacteria, called bacillus (B.) cereus, which is commonly found in gastrointestinal illnesses, was found to be there.

Tracing back to how it could've possibly happened, the patient said he had dinner with his family, where he'd eaten rice, followed by 'vigorous vaginal intercourse' with his wife, who said she didn't have any gastrointestinal symptoms, prior to the vomiting and diarrhoea.

It was determined the man had eaten contaminated rice, which caused the initial food poisoning (Getty Images)

Medics determined that the rice he'd eaten had been contaminated with the bacteria, and his blood vessels had become dilated when he became physical with his wife - just moments before he had to leg it to the toilet.

It is believed that during this moment, some of the bacteria matter through his vomit or faeces made direct contact with his genitals, and because his blood vessels were dilated, they were more susceptible to the bacteria taking over.

The authors in the study further explained: "It is plausible that the diarrhoea and vomitus which contaminated the penis post intercourse is likely the source of the skin infection," before adding: "In all our years of medical practice, we've never seen anything quite like this."

As for the patient, his month-long treatment plan involved a fucidic acid ointment, a strict hygiene regime and a temporary ban on sexual activity - notwithstanding a probable fear of rice for life.