LONDON - 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 reports.
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 the liver disease hepatitis B.
Itzhak Braverman, of the Hillel Yaffe Medical Centre 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.
"No one had considered this danger before," New Scientist said. It gave no details about when or where the suicide attack took place.
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 against hepatitis B.
The biggest fear is finding HIV, which causes Aids. Braverman said the woman tested negative for HIV.
- REUTERS
Feature: Middle East
Related links
Mideast bombers' grip goes beyond the grave
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
