Doctors treating a woman for stomach pain were shocked to find a very unlikely cause for it - a potato inside her vagina.

The 22-year-old woman, from Colombia, was advised by her mother to use the technique to avoid becoming pregnant.

But by the time doctors discovered the potato, it had apparently germinated and grown roots inside her.

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The woman, from Colombia, was advised by her mother to use the potato to avoid becoming pregnant

The story was covered by Colombia Reports, a large news website in the country.

It claims the unnamed woman told doctors: 'My mum told me that if I didn't want to get pregnant, I should put a potato up there, and I believed her.'

The discovery was made when the woman, from the central Colombian town of Honda, went to hospital complaining of abdominal pains.

When a nurse examined her, she found roots from the potato that had grown.

However after removing it, doctors confirmed there would be no lasting damage to the woman's health.

Medical staff at the hospital have criticised the woman's mother for the terrible contraceptive advice.

The bizarre case sheds light on a lack of sex education, despite it being mandatory in the South American country.

Research conducted by the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare - to try and reduce high levels of teenage pregnancy - found a startling lack of awareness about contraception in young people.

Girls are often pressured into having unsafe sex, the campaign found.

Maria Eugenia Rosselli, the Colombian Ministry of Education sociologist was reported said the lack of 'sex talk' between young people and their parents had created a void of information.

This, in turn, had created high levels of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.