IN a bizarre, never-before-seen case, a man was treated for food poisoning affecting his genital region.
The 38-year-old sought help after suffering redness and swelling to his penis for about a week.
He told urologists that symptoms had started shortly after having “vigorous intercourse” with his wife.
He denied suffering “trauma or laceration or any accidental bite” to his penis during it, but revealed he’d been struck by a severe bout of vomiting and diarrhoea soon after having sex.
The doctors at the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Lebanon, took a swab of the man’s penis to test for infection.
To their surprise, they identified “an unusual organism” that usually causes food poisoning as the source of his penile troubles.
Tests detected Bacillus cereus, a bacteria found in contaminated food including rice, beef, and vegetables.
It releases harmful toxins and can bring on food poisoning, causing gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhoea, nausea, and vomiting.
“This is the first case in literature describing such an entity,” the report authors wrote in the journal Annals of Medicine and Surgery.
They explained that penile skin infections are generally caused by injuries and sexually transmitted pathogens or bacteria like group A streptococcus and Staphylococcus aureus.
“The recovery of B. cereus from the penile infection in our patient revealed the first case of such unusual infection,” the authors added.
As doctors unravelled the mystery of the man’s strange infection, it emerged that he’d eaten a meal with his family containing rice a day before he was struck by diarrhoea and vomiting.
The 38-year-old was intimate with his wife the next day and experienced these unpleasant symptoms just a few hours later.
In the course of his violent episode of diarrhoea and vomiting, the patient said that he “soiled his genital region”, which explained how the bacteria ended up on his penis.
“It is plausible that the diarrhoea and vomitus which contaminated the penis post intercourse is likely the source of the skin infection,” the doctors overseeing his care said.
The man was was treated using a topical antibiotic called fusidic acid, which is used for eye and skin infections.
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He was also advised to abstain from sex and masturbation until he was fully healed.
A month after visiting the clinic with his infection, the man said he had no pain, burning, or discomfort in the genital area and the infection had not returned.
B. cereus has been found to cause infections outside of the gastrointestinal tract but never before in genitals.
The report authors said: “Non-gastrointestinal infections caused by B. cereus, although rare, reported in the literature, include serious conditions such as bacteremia, meningitis, endocarditis, endophthalmitis, pneumonia, and soft tissue diseases.”
It comes after a recent journal article discussed the case of a man who saw pink every time he orgasmed.
