- LONDON (Reuters) - Suicide bombers could be endangering
the lives of people from beyond the grave by passing on hepatitis or blood-borne
diseases to survivors, a science magazine reported on Wednesday.
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- Israeli doctors have found fragments of bone from a suicide
bomber embedded in a 31-year-old woman who survived the attack. The fragments
tested positive for liver disease hepatitis B.
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- Itzhak Braverman, of the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center
in Hadera, Israel, told New Scientist magazine he believed it was the first
report of human bone fragments acting as foreign bodies in a blast injury.
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- "No one had considered this danger before,"
New Scientist magazine said.
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- The magazine gave no details about when or where the
suicide attack took place.
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- Braverman said he believed all embedded bone fragments
in survivors of such bombings should be routinely tested for diseases such
as hepatitis, dengue fever, syphilis, the human form of mad cow disease
and possibly malaria. He also said survivors were being vaccinated.
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- "As a result of that case, all survivors of these
attacks in Israel are now vaccinated from hepatitis B," Braverman
told the magazine.
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- The biggest fear is finding HIV, which causes AIDS.
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- Braverman said the woman tested negative for HIV but
added that the tests used are normally designed for blood and analysing
bone fragments for diseases is more difficult.
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- At least 1,467 Palestinians and 559 Israelis have been
killed since Palestinians began a revolt in September 2000 shortly after
negotiations for a final peace treaty deadlocked.
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- http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=sciencenews&StoryID=1245419
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