Monday, September 11, 2006

Italian recluse taken from apartment after 26 years

When Italian health officials came to remove a woman from the apartment she has not left in more than two decades they had to don respirators against the stench.

The woman, named only as "Carmela", was in her late 50s, weighed about 30 kg (66 pounds) and had hair two metres (seven feet) long when officials came to take her to hospital.

A bout of influenza 26 years ago terrified Carmela so much that she tried to seal herself off from germs by barricading herself in her home.

Carmela's main contact with neighbours has been to shout a single message through her door.

"Shut the window on the landing!"

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