A 20-year-old man with a case of nasal tooth sought medical help thinking he had lung disease, said Hsieh Kuo-pin (謝國斌), a doctor at Yuan’s Hospital in Kaohsiung.
According to a report published yesterday by the Chinese-language Apple Daily, the man said that he coughed up blood multiple times when he cleared his throat. Worried that he had some sort of lung disease, he consulted a doctor.
However, multiple examinations by the hospital’s pulmonology department found that his lungs were healthy, Hsieh was quoted as saying in the article.
The man was transferred to the hospital’s ear, nose and throat department, which Hsieh heads.
Hsieh arranged for the man to undergo a nasal endoscopy, and a wisdom tooth was found lodged in the bottom of his left nasal cavity.
The tooth had punctured blood vessels, which caused the man to cough up blood, Hsieh said, adding that the tooth was removed at the hospital.
Hsieh said the man’s condition was rare — with about 0.1 percent to 1 percent of people being diagnosed with the condition — but not lethal.
While the condition could be left alone, the presence of the tooth in the nasal cavity would rupture blood vessels and cause phlegm or spit to become laced with blood.
Lin Yao-hsiang (林曜祥), a doctor at the Veteran’s General Hospital’s Kaohsiung branch said he had seen the condition before, but the patients had rarely complained of coughing up blood.
Lee Yan-lung (李彥龍), a resident physician at Kaohsiung’s Datong Hospital, said that despite the false alarm, the man’s decision to seek medical help was correct.
Certain late-stage tuberculosis patients and lung cancer patients might develop symptoms of coughing up blood-laced phlegm or spit due to the tumor spreading to the bronchitis, Lee said in the article, as he urged the public to seek medical help should they develop similar symptoms.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing