Condition of worker exposed to radiation worsens

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Condition of worker exposed to radiation worsens

TOKYO, March 10 (Kyodo) - The condition of a worker who suffered a 
huge dose of radiation at a uranium-processing plant last September 
has worsened and become ''unpredictable,'' the Tokyo hospital 
treating him said Friday. 

Masato Shinohara, 40, has pneumonia and internal bleeding in the 
lungs and stomach, said officials at the Research Hospital of the 
University of Tokyo's Institute of Medical Science. 

His deterioration follows the death in December from multiple organ 
failure of Hisashi Ouchi, 35, who was exposed to radiation along with 
Shinohara in Japan's worst nuclear accident at the plant run by JCO 
Co. in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture. 

On Feb. 20 or shortly afterward Shinohara contracted pneumonia due to 
antibiotic-resistant bacteria inside his nose and throat, and his 
lungs and stomach started bleeding, they said. 

He has been attached to a respirator since his breathing became 
unstable earlier this month, they said. His condition has since been 
stable but remains unpredictable. 

Doctors at the hospital plan to transfer him to an intensive care 
unit in its surgical department later Friday to focus on treating his 
pneumonia, they said. 

Shinohara, exposed to an estimated 8 sieverts of radiation, had first 
shown critical signs such as partial loss of consciousness. 

The doctors had transfused umbilical cord blood to help recover his 
deteriorated blood-forming functions, while transplanting cultured 
skin to treat his burns. 

Earlier this year he had started to recover gradually and began 
rehabilitation by moving around the hospital in a wheelchair. 

Shinohara, Ouchi and Yutaka Yokokawa, all JCO employees, were exposed 
to radiation at the plant after they poured too much uranium into a 
processing tank, triggering a nuclear fission chain reaction. 

Ouchi was exposed to an estimated 17 sieverts of radiation, almost 
the same amount as at the blast centers in the 1945 nuclear bombings 
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and about 17,000 times the maximum annual 
permissible exposure in Japan. 

He was the first person to die from radiation exposure following an 
accident at a nuclear facility in more than 40 years of Japan's 
development and use of nuclear energy. 

Yokokawa was discharged from the hospital of the National Institute 
of Radiological Sciences in December. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
ICN Biomedicals, Inc.				E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          
Costa Mesa, CA 92626                                      

Personal Website:  http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com

************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html