別再用棉簽清理耳朵了

Just in case you needed yet another reason to stopcleaning your ears with cotton buds (aka Q-Tips), one man's run-in with a severe and potentially life-threatening infection in his skull may give youpause.

如果你還沒有停止用棉球(又名棉簽)清潔耳朵，我再給你一個理由：一名男子顱內(nèi)發(fā)生了嚴重的、危及生命的感染;不知道這足不足以阻止你。

In a newly published case report, doctors detail howan otherwise healthy 31-year-old man was broughtto their hospital's emergency department in anambulance after collapsing.

在一份新公布的病例報告中，醫(yī)生詳細描述了一名31歲的健康男子如何在昏倒后被救護車送往醫(yī)院急診室。

Upon arriving, he experienced seizures, and physical examinations showed he was confused, drowsy, and occupying an altered state of consciousness.

一到醫(yī)院，他就癲癇發(fā)作，體檢顯示他昏昏欲睡、神志不清。

Later, he revealed he had felt headaches and nausea for several days, during which time hestruggled to remember names. Somewhat more ominously, he admitted feeling "intermittentleft ear pain and hearing loss" for the past five years.

后來，他透露，他已經(jīng)頭痛和惡心了好幾天，在這段時間里，他記不清別人的名字。更糟糕的是，他承認在過去的五年里，他感到“間歇性的左耳疼痛和聽力喪失”。

When the doctors ran a CT scan on the man's skull, they discovered pus-filled abscesses in thetissue surrounding his brain, and discharge from one of his ears revealed the culprit behindthe infection: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a dangerous disease-causing pathogen.

當醫(yī)生對這名男子進行顱內(nèi)CT掃描時，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)他大腦周圍的組織中有膿腫，從他的一只耳朵里流出的液體揭示了感染的罪魁禍首：銅綠假單胞菌，這是一種危險的致病病原體。

 

But how did this nasty bacterium get inside the man's skull?

但是這種討厭的細菌是怎么進入這個人的顱內(nèi)的呢?

A physical examination of the man's ear canal hints at the most likely answer: a fragment of acotton bud, that had been stuck in the man's head for who knows how long – but possiblyyears, if his earlier symptoms of pain and hearing loss are any guide.

對這名男子的耳道進行的體檢指向的最有可能的答案是：一團棉簽棉絮，誰知道它在這名男子的腦子里堵了多久——但如果他早期的疼痛和聽力喪失癥狀與此有關的話，可能堵了幾年。

"The use of cotton buds inside ears is common and has long been recognised to cause severalcomplications including trauma, tympanic membrane perforation, impacted earwax, infection, and retention of the cotton bud," the report states.

該報告指出：“在耳朵內(nèi)使用棉簽是很常見的，長期以來，人們一直認為它會導致多種并發(fā)癥，包括創(chuàng)傷、鼓膜穿孔、耳垢阻生、感染和棉簽滯留。”

"The present case further reiterates the dangers of cotton bud use, and the importance offoreign body removal if identified in the EAC."

“本病例進一步重申了使用棉簽的危險性，以及如果在EAC中檢查到異物后進行清除的重要性。”