A woman's daily habit of cleaning her ears with cotton swabs led to a life-threatening infection in her skull, according to news reports.

据报道，一名习惯每天用棉签清洁耳朵的女性发生颅内感染，导致生命受到威胁。

The 37-year-old woman, who is identified only as Jasmine, said she cleaned her ears every night with cotton swabs, according to the Australian magazine That's Life!

澳大利亚的《这就是生活！》杂志报道称，这位名为茉莉的37岁女性说，她每天晚上用棉签清洁耳朵。

But over time, she noticed she had trouble hearing out of her left ear, and finally went to the doctor. She was initially told she had an ear infection, and was given antibiotics.

久而久之，她注意到左耳听力出现问题，最后去看了医生。一开始，医生说她有耳部感染并给她开了抗生素。

But her hearing problems remained, and she soon noticed blood appearing on the cotton swabs after she cleaned her ears.

但她的听力问题依然存在。不久后她发现，清洁耳朵后，棉签上出现血迹。

After a hearing test showed she had moderate deafness, she was referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist. The specialist ordered a CT scan, which showed a horrifying condition: Jasmine had a bacterial infection that was "eating away" at her skull bone behind her ear.

由于听力测试显示她有中度耳聋，茉莉被转给一位耳鼻喉专家，这位专家给她做了CT扫描，结果很糟糕：她受到细菌感染，并且感染正在“侵蚀”她耳后的颅骨。

"You should have come to see me four or five years ago," the specialist reportedly told Jasmine. "You need surgery yesterday."

据报道，这位专家告诉她：“你四五年前就该来找我看病，你早该做手术了。”

Jasmine eventually underwent a 5-hour surgery to remove the infected tissue and reconstruct her ear canal. The surgeons told her that she had cotton fibers lodged in her ear, which had become infected.

为了把受感染的组织摘除并重建耳道，茉莉接受了5小时的手术。外科医生告诉她，棉纤维卡在了她已经受到感染的耳朵里。