A man cycles past a billboard of England soccer player Wayne Rooney in Beijing June 8, 2006 . Though China failed to even make through the World Cup qualifying round, the World Cup football fever has started in the country.[filephoto]

One of Beijing's media quoted hospital statistics on the 19th that since the World Cup started on June 9th, patients with "facial paralysis" increased over 20% in hospitals compared to normal periods.

As the games see heightening tension, the number of such patients will also see an uptrend.

"Facial paralysis" is called "prosopoplegia" in medical terms. The patient usually feels nothing wrong the evening before, but when waking up early the next morning, he would find the corners of the mouth askew, one of his eyes unable to close and one side of the face paralyzed.

A hospital chief in Beijing said since the World Cup began, soccer fans have been kept in a nervous, excited and tired state for a long time almost every day, and their emotion fluctuates violently with the offense and defense of the games, which leads to weaker nervous function and facial immunity and sharply increase the possibility of facial paralysis.

Moreover, drinking without restraint also leads to weaker facial immunity and drunken soccer fans are subject to facial paralysis if they get injured.

Another factor that should not be overlooked is watching soccer games in an air-conditioned environment for a long time, especially in a crowded room without good ventilation.

Owing to the obvious difference in temperature indoors and outdoors and lack of fresh air, soccer fans catch a cold easily, and cold is a main inducement of facial paralysis.