A doctor in Nantou County advised people not to share personal hygiene products, after a growth of warts inside a 70-year-old man’s ears was likely caused by a reusable ear pick used at a hair salon.
The man, surnamed Huang (黃), experienced itchiness inside his right ear and occasional pus and bloody discharge, Nantou Hospital otolaryngologist Wu Chao-kuan (吳昭寬) said.
Huang visited the hospital after losing hearing in the ear, Wu said, adding that an endoscopic exam confirmed the growth of warts.
Photo: Hsieh Chieh-yu, Taipei Times
The warts were surgically removed and Huang’s hearing gradually recovered, he added.
Warts are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infections and are mainly transmitted via physical contact, often affecting the mouth and genitals, he said.
Since Huang sometimes has his face shaved and ears cleaned at salons, the doctor said that his ear canal might have been infected by an ear-cleaning tool.
Warts are benign growths and as patients exhibit few early symptoms, they are often ignored, hospital superintendent Hung Hung-chang (洪弘昌) said.
By the time symptoms emerge, they have typically already had a clear effect on quality of life, he said, adding that the warts could develop into cancer if treatment is delayed.
In addition to avoiding the communal use of personal hygiene products, people should wash their hands frequently after touching public surfaces to prevent accidental infection, Hung said.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS