A 15-year-old boy has contracted a very rare case of cowpox infection after feeding livestock on a farm on the Wrexham-Cheshire border.
Cowpox was a lot more common in the 18th century, when far more people tended to livestock on a regular basis.
The historical disease is now rarely seen in humans or animals. But the teenager has surprised the medical world after contracting the disease, which hasn't been seen in Wales in more than a decade.
He contracted the viral disease, which presented as lesions on his hands and later to his arms and feet, after feeding calves.
According to the boy's mother who spoke to the BBC, she said that the calves nibbled on his hands causing them to become grazed.
He was diagnosed with the rare disease at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
It is the first reported human case of cowpox in Wales for more than a decade.https://t.co/fPFtNbmtC1
— BBC Wales News (@BBCWalesNews) June 16, 2018
Speaking to the BBC, the boy's doctor said: "I think the boy and his family were quite bemused when we told them. I don't think they expected that to be the diagnosis:"
"I think it was very itchy for him but it wasn't particularly painful.
"We have to inform other colleagues about rare cases and, if it's something that's going to be re-emerging, public health professionals need to be alerted.
"We don't really see cowpox anymore - it's one of those diseases that went away."
The disease was first observed in dairymaids centuries ago, who touched the udders of infected cows and consequently developed the signature lesions on their hands.
