MUMBAI: The common cold can, at times, have an uncommon effect: complete loss of hearing. Bhusawal resident Chandrakant Tupe found this out after ignoring his chronic cold for two years.

On Saturday, doctors at Bhatia Hospital in Tardeo operated on 32-year-old Tupe and removed the diseased remains of his left ear. “We can say that common cold or an upper respiratory tract infection cost him his hearing,” said ENT surgeon Dr Divya Prabhat after the operation.

Tupe suffered several symptoms over the last few months to indicate that he had a severe problem. He had constant headache, ear discharge, tinnitus (a constant buzzing sound in the ear) as well as imbalance in movement, but the poor saloon worker took medicines depending on the symptoms he suffered for the day.

The infection that had started in his throat had in the meantime moved to his inner ear, dissolved some of the ear bone and even affected the venous-sinus cavity of the brain. A part of the skull bone had started getting eroded as well. “The X-ray of the ear showed a large cavity because the infection had to destroyed the bony walls of the ear,” said the doctor.

Experts said that such infections of the ear – called otitis media — were common a few decades back among children; it was also a leading cause for hearing loss in the era before antibiotics became common. KEM Hospital professor (ENT) Dr Hetal Marfatia said, “In cities where people have easy access to doctors and antibiotics, infection doesn’t spread to such an extent. But it could happen in people who ignore symptoms for long, especially those from lower socioeconomic starta.” She added that KEM Hospital in Parel get several such patients from outside Mumbai.

On Saturday, Tupe seemed to have found relief for his chronic problem. As he woke up from his anaesthesia-induced sleep in Bhatia Hospital’s general ward, he said that he felt lighter as the “pressure” in his head was no longer there.

Tupe can, however, not hear with his left ear. “His hearing could not have been saved. The bigger problem was the fact that pus as well as blood clots were so close to the brain. He could have become blind or suffered a stroke if the clot had got dislodged,” said Dr Prabhat.

The lesson, said doctors, is to not treat colds lightly. They advise an active lifestyle that involves yoga or deep-breathing exercises to keep infections in control.

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