A MAN'S peculiar habit of sniffing his dirty socks after wearing them landed him in hospital, as he developed a fungal lung infection.
The first sign of the nasty lung condition was a he just couldn't seem to budge.
The man, from Chongqing in southwestern , who was given the pseudonym of Li Qi in local media reports, was racked by fits so bad, they kept him up at night.
He bought himself , but to no avail.
His hacking continued and he developed blood shot eyes.
Eventually, the man visited the Southwest Hospital of the Army Medical University.
He underwent CT and MRI scans, which showed signs of in the lower part of his right lung.
Liang Peiqiang, chief physician of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at the Southwest Hospital of the Army Medical University, told the People's Daily Client: “The results of subsequent bronchoscopy showed that Li Qi was suffering from a fungal lung disease caused by aspergillus infection.”
Breathing in tiny spores of aspergillus mould can cause an infection called , which tends to affect the lungs and cause breathing difficulties.
The mould tends to grow in moist environments such as soil, compost and rotting leaves, as well as plants and trees.
But it can also crop up in dust, damp buildings, bedding and air conditioning systems.
Medics interviewed the patient and it emerged he had a habit of after taking them off at the end of the day.
“After hearing what he said, we realised that this habit of Li Qi might be the culprit that caused his lung inflammation,” Dr Penang said.
The team tested his socks and found that had indeed spread through them.
Luo Hu, deputy director of the hospital explained that the socks had been the perfect breeding ground for the fungus.
“Worn socks mainly contain sweat, salt, urea, etc.
“Wearing shoes for a long time forms a closed, humid, and warm space, which is easy to breed fungi.
“If you smell or absorb fungus-filled socks, the fungi may enter the lower respiratory tract through the mouth and nose.
“If the body's immune function is low, it may cause diseases such as fungal pneumonia.”
The man was given anti-fungal meds and has since been discharged from hospital.
We're always breathing in microscopic fungi spores, which can multiply and spread inside our lungs.
This rarely causes disease in healthy people as our immune system usually gets rid of them.
But people with asthma may get irritation and inflammation of their airways.
Meanwhile, the fungi might directly infect the lungs of people with weakened immune systems
