Cello scrotum concern

News

Andy Barrett Jan 28 2009, 2:35pm

Sufferers of rare condition learn of worrying news

Male cellists claiming to suffer from a rare irritation to the genital area have something else to worry about now, the BBC reports, as it turns out the condition is nothing more than a hoax – albeit one of some 30 years standing.

A recent article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) referred to the condition, which was first mentioned in the publication in a letter in the 1970s. Upon seeing the latest reference, the instigator of the hoax, Dr Elaine Murphy (now Baroness Murphy), felt it was time to come clean.

After reading an article on a similar condition, Murphy, together with her then husband, John, decided to have a go at something better. “Somewhat to our astonishment, the letter was published,” Murphy said in the latest issue of the BMJ.

“Anyone who has ever watched a cello being played would realise the physical impossibility of our claim,” she added.

The BBC has quoted a spokesman for the BMJ as confirming that no-one would be facing reprisals for publishing the letter or referencing it in later articles.

Rotosound

“We did actually get a letter from another doctor at the time pointing out how unlikely it was,” he said. “We may have to organise a formal retraction or correction now. Once these things get into the scientific literature, they stay there for good. But it all adds to the gaiety of life.”

Further alarm might well be caused after Baroness Murphy revealed that the inspiration for the invention of cello scrotum was an article on ‘guitar nipple’, sensitive nipples caused by a guitar rubbing on the player’s breast. “We thought it highly likely to be a spoof, and decided to go one further by submitting a similar phenomenon in cellists,” wrote Murphy.

The staff of MI Pro and Audio Pro International will now have to find new excuses for their regular visits to the doctor.