Woman Says She Suffered Seven-Year Infection After Ex-Boyfriend Did ‘Disgusting’ Thing To Her

A woman alleged in a viral social media video that she struggled with a seven-year respiratory infection after her then-boyfriend farted in her face, the New York Post reported.

The woman, identified as Christine Connell, said in the TikTok video that doctors, baffled by the persistent infection, finally discovered that the unlikely culprit of the infection was the fecal bacterium Escherichia coli after culturing samples from her nose, according to the outlet. The video is no longer available as Connell’s account is now private as of the time of this report.

“How does that get in your sinuses unless you have a boyfriend who farts disgustingly and you are forced to inhale it because you are immobile after ankle surgery?” Connell reportedly asked.

Connell later said that she and her ex-boyfriend were in a hotel room while she was recovering from the surgery, and she was in bed when he, standing naked between the two queen-sized beds in the room, turned his backside toward her.

“That is when the fart happened,” Connell reportedly said. “I’ve never, ever, ever smelled anything that compares to that.”

I’ve had a 7-year infection since my ex did the most disgusting thing in a hotel room — I can’t believe it got into my sinuses https://t.co/yquL0BIMVq pic.twitter.com/8YwITPsL7o

— New York Post (@nypost) May 27, 2025

Connell further said that the discharge was accidental.

“He was just getting into bed, and my face happened to be in the path of the fart that was released,” she reportedly added.

“I had just had ankle surgery that I was recovering from, so I imagine that my immune system was focused on healing that,” Connell said. “I think that maybe in another circumstance, like if I had been healthy, it wouldn’t have happened.”

“Also when I say that it was the worst fart that I have ever smelled in my life, I truly mean that,” she added.

E. coli are beneficial microbes in the human gut, but certain types of the bacterium can cause diarrhea and other diseases in other parts of the body, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A weakened immune system is one of the reasons why anyone could come down with an E. coli infection, the CDC said.

“I don’t think it is common,” Connell reportedly said of her E. coli sinusitis. “It can happen, it has happened before, but it’s definitely rare.” (RELATED: Tennessee Teen Battles Rare Bacterial Infection, Doctors Forced To Amputate Both Her Legs)

Some E. coli infections resist antibiotic treatment, according to the CDC. Connell later said that antibiotics also were ineffective in her case and surgery would be the next option.

“They’re going to use general anesthesia to go up there and physically scrape off where the bacteria has been and really wash it and get all of the infected tissue out of there,” she reportedly said.