Just in case you needed yet another reason to stop cleaning 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 you pause.

　　如果你还没有停止用棉球(又名棉签)清洁耳朵，我再给你一个理由：一名男子颅内发生了严重的、危及生命的感染;不知道这足不足以阻止你。

　　In a newly published case report, doctors detail how an otherwise healthy 31-year-old man was brought to their hospital's emergency department in an ambulance after collapsing.

　　在一份新公布的病例报告中，医生详细描述了一名31岁的健康男子如何在昏倒后被救护车送往医院急诊室。

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

　　一到医院，他就癫痫发作，体检显示他昏昏欲睡、神志不清。

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

　　后来，他透露，他已经头痛和恶心了好几天，在这段时间里，他记不清别人的名字。更糟糕的是，他承认在过去的五年里，他感到“间歇性的左耳疼痛和听力丧失”。

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

　　当医生对这名男子进行颅内CT扫描时，他们发现他大脑周围的组织中有脓肿，从他的一只耳朵里流出的液体揭示了感染的罪魁祸首：铜绿假单胞菌，这是一种危险的致病病原体。

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

　　但是这种讨厌的细菌是怎么进入这个人的颅内的呢?

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

　　对这名男子的耳道进行的体检指向的最有可能的答案是：一团棉签棉絮，谁知道它在这名男子的脑子里堵了多久——但如果他早期的疼痛和听力丧失症状与此有关的话，可能堵了几年。

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

　　该报告指出：“在耳朵内使用棉签是很常见的，长期以来，人们一直认为它会导致多种并发症，包括创伤、鼓膜穿孔、耳垢阻生、感染和棉签滞留。”

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

　　“本病例进一步重申了使用棉签的危险性，以及如果在EAC中检查到异物后进行清除的重要性。”