Claim: Hunan hand syndrome, first reported in he New England Journal of Medicine in 1981, is a painful cutaneous condition that can afflict those who handle chili peppers.
Evidence: It was first described in an eponymous case report in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1981. Hunan hand syndrome (also known as "Chili burn") is a temporary, but very painful, cutaneous condition that commonly afflicts those who handle, prepare, or cook with fresh or roasted chili peppers.