A farmer who urinated in a field was rushed to hospital after a snake bit him on the penis.

The 46-year-old came to the emergency room of a hospital in Sringar, in the northern state of Jammu and Kasmir, three hours after suffering the bite.

Although the man was stable, his penis was ‘grossly swollen’, and covered in fluid-filled blisters where the snake’s teeth had entered, said doctors describing his case in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A farmer’s penis became swollen and covered in fluid-filled blisters after he was bitten by a snake while urinating in a field. The snake was identified as a Levantine viper (pictured), known to be venomous

The snake was identified by the patient as ‘gunas’, the local name for the Levantine viper, a snake whose venom is known to be venomous.

He was immediately tested and it was found his blood was clotting faster than usual due to the snake’s venom.

He was given an anti-venom that neutralises the poison of the cobra, common krait and viper.

Three days after he began treatment, his blood was clotting normally again and he was allowed to go home.

The swelling in his penis went down four days after he left hospital, although he was left with black, wounds in the places where the snake’s fangs had punctured his penis.

This was because the venom had caused necrosis – the tissue to wither and die.

At a follow up two weeks later, he was found to be completely recovered.

The man was treated at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, India.

Doctors immediately gave him an anti-venom that neutralises the poison of the cobra, common krait and viper, as the snake's poison was causing his blood to clot faster than usual (file photo)

The news comes as a leading medical charity warns the world will run out of one of the most effective treatments for snakebites next year, putting thousands of lives in danger.

Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name Médecins Sans Frontières‎ (MSF), says existing stockpiles of the anti-venom medicine Fav-Afrique, produced by pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur, will expire in June next year.

The company stopped producing the anti-venom last year and has since started using the same technology to make a rabies treatment instead.