Tourist bitten while playing with wild monkeys in Thailand

James Fitzpatrick went island hopping around Thailand with his girlfriend for a month and they decided to visit Monkey Hill in Phuket on 12 June.

While the 27-year-old was sitting down two baby monkeys began playing on his head before a 'big monkey' started licking his left shoulder like a 'friendly dog'.

However, he was 'shocked' when the primate suddenly took a bite out of him with his 'sharp teeth'.

The carpenter then 'panicked' that he might have caught rabies - which is often deadly - so rushed to hospital to have a double dosage shot within an hour of getting bitten.

Rabies is a rare infection usually caught from a bite or scratch by an infected animal that can be fatal once symptoms appear but can be prevented by vaccination or early treatment.

Taking to TikTok, his girlfriend shared footage of the bite captioned 'this is your sign to get travel insurance before going travelling', which has now gone viral with more than 2.5 million views.

In the clip you can see James grimacing and quickly standing up after the monkey bites him while his concerned girlfriend asks 'are you okay?' - before proclaiming they must get to hospital.

The tourist admits he was left 'shaking' in fear when a taxi driver suggested he could develop AIDS.

Despite having travel insurance he was forced to pay over £600 for more rabies shots after flying back home, which the insurance company wouldn't cover.

He now urges other travellers to 'be more aware' of how dangerous monkey bites can be.

British holidaymaker Yvonne Ford, 59, died from rabies on 11 June after being scratched by a puppy in Morocco back in February.

James, who lives in Naas, Ireland, said: "I was a bit shocked. I was just sitting there and I thought it was cool as the baby monkeys came over to me and they were playing on my head and I thought it was funny.

"The big monkey came over and was licking me. I thought he was being friendly like a dog would lick you. He ended up taking a bite out of me then and I was surprised.

"He didn't bite me hard but they have sharp teeth and they can be quite aggressive. I was a bit sore.

"I wasn't really given a whole lot of information of how dangerous monkey bites can be. Luckily I went on Google and it was saying how serious it was and to go to the hospital.

"I was quite panicked and I got into the taxi and I was a bit worried. I asked the taxi driver about it and it didn't help the situation because he said I could get AIDS. That's when I was shaking and I thought 'that's the end of me'."

The carpenter rushed to hospital to get a double dosage rabies shot as he hadn't got the vaccination before the trip and he then had to get four more on different occasions.

While he had travel insurance it didn't cover the shots after returning back home so he was forced to fork out £600.

He now wants to spread awareness about the dangers of monkey bites.

James said: "I wish I wasn't naive and that I knew more about the monkeys. If I knew they were that dangerous I wouldn't have gone near them or tried to touch them.

"It was a holiday of a lifetime but [the bite] was a bit of a nightmare and it took away from the holiday a little bit but at least I haven't got any rabies or diseases or anything.

"There's no going back from rabies if you don't get the vaccination post-bite and it's very lethal so I acted very quickly. I was very scared at the time.

"Travel insurance is very important. Make sure it's cleaned immediately, it doesn't matter whether it's a scratch or a bite."