A Dutch team has carried out a study and says that men who come down with flu-like symptoms post-orgasm are probably suffering an allergic reaction to their own semen, British newspaper 'The Sun' reported.
Men with the condition -- known as post-orgasmic illness syndrome or POIS -- usually suffer from symptoms like fever, runny nose, extreme fatigue and burning eyes. They come on straight after climax and can last up to a week.
Lead scientist Marcel Waldinger, professor of sexual psychopharmacology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, said a treatment known as hyposensitisation therapy can help reduce the impact of the syndrome.
It involves being repeatedly exposed to small but gradually increasing amounts of the allergen over several years to build up resistance, according to him.
"These results are a very important breakthrough in the research of this syndrome," he was quoted as saying.
Published 18 January 2011, 12:35 IST