A woman is going viral after sharing the discovery behind her baffling, seven-year-long medical condition that was a result of her boyfriend farting in her face.
Britney Spears probably wasn’t talking about this in her song ‘Toxic,’ but it definitely applies.
Christine Connell is a lawyer, globe-trotter and influencer who boasts over 67K followers on TikTok, where she shared a horrifying tale that’s taking over social media.
On April 30, 2025, Connell uploaded a video explaining that she’d been suffering from persistent sinus issues for the past seven years, baffling medical experts.
After undergoing a bevy of tests, she finally underwent a sinus culture, where doctors examined any bacteria growing in her nostrils.
Christine Connell is a self-described travel-junkie – but a misadventure from seven years ago resulted in a baffling medical condition for her.
The results showed that she was positive for E. coli — a bacteria that lives in your gut and is often expelled through feces in humans and animals.
While the most common way to get E. coli is from eating contaminated foods like ground beef or unpasteurized milk, it can also spread through personal contact… which is how Connell got it.
TikToker goes viral after boyfriend’s fart gives her E. coli
However, the way she got it is sending the internet into a tizzy. Connell said that she was sharing a hotel room with her now ex-boyfriend seven years ago after undergoing ankle surgery when he farted in her face.
She described the gas as “terrible,” saying she “couldn’t breathe” it was so bad. Well, it turns out it was probably more than just a fart in there.
“You usually don’t get E. coli in your sinuses because E. coli is from poop,” she explained. “I don’t know. 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?”
Viewers were equal parts stunned and skeptical of the TikToker’s story, with many theorizing that someone simply hadn’t washed their hands before touching her. Connell, however, maintains that it was most likely her ex-man’s toxic fart that was to blame.
To treat the infection, Connell initially used nasal sprays and nasal rinses, which she showed off in a follow-up video shortly afterward. However, those treatments didn’t work, and now she’s scheduled for sinus surgery, as told in another video uploaded on May 13.
This isn’t the first time someone’s fart has resulted in medical issues for her, either; in another TikTok, Connell claimed that a friend had farted in her face ten years ago, after which she came down with a case of pink eye.
“Maybe I’m just susceptible to E. coli, which is weird, but again, I don’t have any immune issues, according to tests,” she said.
Does bacteria spread from farts? The answer isn’t as complex as you think
While it’s highly unlikely for anyone to become infected with E. coli from a fart, if the gas also has feces in it that somehow gets in contact with you, it’s not impossible.
In fact, healthcare workers literally farted into petri dishes to solve a similar conundrum, after Australian physician Karl Kruszelnicki was asked by a nurse if passing gas could contaminate a sterilized operating room back in 2001.
Dr. Kruszelnicki made two test batches — one where colleagues farted into the dish fully clothed, and one where they farted into a dish in the nude.
Unsplash.com: CDCE. coli is commonly found in the guts of healthy humans and animals, but it can cause major health problems if certain strands are ingested.
The results showed that the petri dish cultured from nude farts was rife with bacteria that had grown “overnight,” while the one taken from clothed colleagues was clean as a whistle.
“Our deduction is that the enteric zone in the second petri dish was caused by the flatus itself, and the splatter ring around that was caused by the sheer velocity of the fart, which blew skin bacteria from the cheeks and blasted it onto the dish,” he wrote in the British Medical Journal.
“It seems, therefore, that flatus can cause infection if the emitter is naked, but not if he or she is clothed.”
