Radiation sickness

["Jim Hoerner" <jim_hoerner@HOTMAIL.COM>]

Radiation sickness

5/16/2003 10:18 AM

By: Capital News 9 web staff



[There is also a video available at the cited link.  The people supposedly 

suffering from acute radiation sickness look pretty healthy to me.  Not what 

I would expect if it were true. - JH]



Amar doesn't go out much these days. He said he's been sick ever since he 

drank water from a plastic barrel looted from nearby Al-Tuwaitha, Saddam's 

biggest nuclear research complex.



U.N. experts who monitored the site before the war said low-grade 

radioactive material may have been stored in the drums.



Amar Jorda said, "My skin itches, I can't breathe well and my nose bleeds at 

least four times a day."



He said he only drank water from the barrel once, just after he and his 

father bought it from a man in the street. No more soccer. No more school. 

He's even cut himself off from his old friends, even though doctors said his 

illness is not contagious.



At the nearest hospital, Dr. Jaafar Nasser said he has seen six people in 

just two days with similar symptoms, breathlessness, rashes, frequent 

nosebleeds and vomiting. His diagnosis is clear.



Dr. Jaafar said, "This is called acute radiation sickness."



Several weeks after the nuclear complex was looted, it's now guarded by U.S. 

troops, but there's apparently no coordinated effort to track down items 

that may have been stolen.



And local doctors are only just beginning to keep detailed case files on 

patients they suggest are affected by radiation sickness.



One man still has one of the drums and has had diarrhea and vomiting since 

he broke into Al-Tuwaitha. Other items looted from the nuclear complex have 

just been dumped in the street of a nearby town as fears of radiation 

spread.



One of the few visitors Amar still has is Ikhlas. She doesn't have much to 

say these days. Since she drank from another water barrel also looted from 

Al-Tuwaitha, she said her eyesight has faded and now she only sees dark 

shadows.



Dr. Jaafar said he suspects she is also suffering radiation sickness, but 

until experts conduct a detailed medical study, there's little chance of 

pinpointing the precise causes.



http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/?ArID=26200&SecID=33



--

Hold the door for the stranger behind you. When the driver a half-car-length 

in front of you signals to get over, slow down. Smile and say "hi" to the 

folks you pass on the sidewalk. Give blood. Volunteer.



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