A fresh workplace accident led a Spanish man to be admitted into hospital with a completely new disease borne of pigs.

The 53-year-old man, who was employed to collect hazardous laboratory waste, was admitted to Zaragoza's Miguel Servet University Hospital in 2014, suffering from fever, joint discomfort and headaches.

An examination revealed he was suffering from a type of pig brucellosis, caused by a strain of bacteria which exists in only a handful of laboratories around the globe, El Pais reports.

The man is believed to have contracted the illness while collecting waste from the Centre for Research and Agro-Food Technology of Aragon, whose students were studying the strain for a doctoral thesis.

He is thought to have accidently stepped on a contaminated syringe which punctured the sole of his boots. The needle should have been hermetically sealed, but its box somehow opened.

To add an even more improbable element to the story, the man suffered from an autoimmune disorder which inflamed his blood vessels and left him vulnerable to infection.

Doctors believe this is the first case in the world of an individual suffering from this strain of the bacteria. Regional governor Jose Maria Blasco Martinez said "it was like an airplane accident, the accumulation of a series of circumstances."

The man eventually overcame the disease with the help of antibiotics, but since the news became public, researchers have called for more stringent safety protocols to prevent similar occurrences.

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