Chinese man sniffs smelly socks every day, develops lung infection

37-year-old Peng from Zhangzhou had an unusual habit of taking a whiff of his stinky socks every day while changing clothes after work.

As a result, he caught an infection from a fungus that had developed in his footwear because of his sweaty feet.

He was recently admitted to a hospital with chest pain and cough and was diagnosed with severe pulmonary fungal infection.

During medical examination, Peng admitted to his unusual sock-sniffing habit and an X-ray confirmed his infection.

Doctors explained Peng had developed the infection after inhaling the fungal spores that has grown in his footwear.

"The infection could also be attributed to his lack of rest at home as he had (been) looking after his child, leading to weak immune system," Dr. Mai Zhuanying explained.

News of Peng's case soon spread on China's Twitter-like platform, Weibo, and it garnered around 65 million views by Friday, last week.

Interestingly, many netizens admitted to having the same weird habit and were now getting worried about their health.

A netizen wrote, "The reason I smell my socks is to know if I can continue wearing them the next day!"

While stories of people with foot fetishes are quite common, we don't really hear cases of unusual likeness towards smelly socks regularly.

However, a 21-year-old girl from the US revealed earlier this year that she knew someone known as 'Sock Daddy', who was ready to pay a hefty amount for her sweaty socks.

Meanwhile, is it time to say RIP general hygiene yet?