Man ruptures throat by a sneeze

Chelsea Stuart

噴嚏有危險，打時須謹慎。34歲的男子打噴嚏時一不小心就撕破了喉嚨，他到底招誰惹誰了才這樣倒霉呢？

“Stifling（抑制；阻止）a sneeze by clamping（夾緊）your nose and mouth shut can cause serious physical damage,”doctors are warning.

A 34-year-old man ruptured（爆裂）his throat while trying to stop a high-force sneeze.With nowhere to escape,the pressure ripped through the soft tissue（組織）,and although rare and unusual,people should be aware of the danger.

Trapping a sneeze could also damage the ears or even rupture a brain aneurysm（動脈瘤）,doctors warned in journalBMJ Case Reports.

The man said he felt a “popping” sensation in his neck when it happened and then immediately experienced pain and difficulty swallowing and speaking.

When the doctors checked him over,they found he had swelling（腫脹）around his throat and neck.

An X-ray revealed air escaping from his windpipe into the soft tissue of his neck through the rupture.

The man had to be fed by a tube for the next seven days to allow time for the tissues to heal.

After spending a week in hospital,the man was sent home and made a full recovery.

Doctors from the ear,nose,throat department at Leicester Royal Infirmary,where the man was treated,said: “Preventing a sneeze via blocking nostrils（鼻孔）and mouth is dangerous and should be avoided.”

“Sneezes can spread diseases.With flu season in full swing,children and adults should be encouraged to cover their mouth and nose with a tissue（紙巾）when they cough and sneeze and then throw the tissues away in a bin and wash their hands to stop the spread of germs,”says Public Health England.

The prices of 36 expensive drugs—half of them for cancer treatment—are now covered by medical insurance,after the authorities negotiated substantial price reductions.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security negotiated with pharmaceutical(制藥的)manufacturers on 44 drugs and managed to cut prices of 36 of them to be acceptable for coverage by the medical insurance fund,Xu Yanjun,a fund management official at the ministry,said at a news conference on Wednesday.

“Compared with retail prices last year,prices of these drugs have decreased by 44 percent on average,”he said.Five of the drugs are traditional Chinese medicines and 22 are imported Western medicines.

“Half the drugs,including 15 Western ones,are used to treat six types of cancer,including breast,lung and liver cancer.For example,the price of 440-milliliter(毫升)trastuzumab,which is used to treat breast cancer,went down by 69 percent to 7,600 yuan ($1,125),”said Yan Qinghui,the ministry's deputy director ofmedical insurance.

He said the government chose the 44 drugs for negotiation after it found the medical fund couldn't afford them,even though they are greatly needed by the public due to their curative effects.They may be patented or produced exclusively by certain pharmaceutical companies.