Albinos Ritualistically Murdered in Tanzania

From TIME:

Tanzania
CONSTANT PERIL Albinos in this East African nation are fearing for their lives after the latest in a rash of ritualistic murders. More than 20 albinos, who suffer from a genetic disorder that results in sensitive, pigmentless skin, blond hair and blue eyes, have been killed in the past year. The main suspects are local witch doctors, who sell albino organs and hacked-off body parts as good-luck charms. In April, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete appointed an albino to be a Member of Parliament and ordered a crackdown on witch doctors.
(TIME)

Baby pronounced dead lives after hours in cooler

Baby pronounced dead lives after hours in cooler
Tue Aug 19, 2008 10:19am EDT

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A stillborn Israeli baby who was pronounced dead by doctors "came back to life" on Monday after spending hours in a hospital refrigerator.

The baby, weighing only 600 grams at birth, spent at least five hours inside one of the hospital's refrigerated storage units, before her parents, who had taken her to be buried, began noticing some movement.

"We unwrapped her and felt she was moving. We didn't believe it at first. Then she began holding my mother's hand, and then we saw her open her mouth," said 26-year-old Faiza Magdoub, the baby's mother.

The baby was pronounced dead several hours earlier, after doctors at Western Galilee hospital in northern Israel were forced to abort her mother's pregnancy because of internal bleeding. Magdoub was 23 weeks into her pregnancy.

"We don't know how to explain this, so when we don't know how to explain things in the medical world we call it a miracle, and this is probably what happened," hospital deputy director Moshe Daniel said.

The baby was then taken to the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit for further treatment, but doctors were not sure how long she will live.

Motti Ravid, a professor of internal medicine, told Israel's Channel 10 that the low temperature inside the cooler had slowed down the baby's metabolism and likely helped her survive.

(Writing by Avida Landau, Editing by Mike Collett-White)
(REUTERS)

National Geographic: The Girl With Eight Limbs

Lakshmi Tatma was born with four arms and four legs, but also carries a rare parasitic conjoined twin that could kill her. (YouTube)