www.guardian.co.uk/russia/a...5,00.html





Ian Sample, science correspondent
December 2, 2006
The Guardian


Experts said last night it was very unlikely that Mario Scaramella was
contaminated with polonium-210 through social contact with the former
Russian spy
Alexander Litvinenko.

Investigators cannot rule out the possibility that he was poisoned
sometime
after Mr Litvinenko. But they believe the most likely scenario is that
Mr
Scaramella was poisoned at the same time as Mr Litvinenko when they met
in a sushi
bar on November 1.

Although Mr Litvinenko is known to have received an enormous dose of
polonium, Mr Scaramella is believed to have ingested a lower dose.


This suggests that he may have eaten or drunk something contaminated
with the
poison. He could not have picked it up from shaking Mr Litvenenko's
hand, or
from conversation across the table.

Tests conducted on all staff at the restaurant have found no traces of
polonium-210.

If he was poisoned on November 1 - the day he met Mr Litvinenko - the
polonium-210 would still be in his system. Due to its radioactivity
polonium-210
emits alpha particles when it decays and it has a relatively short
half-life of
138 days.

Experts said last night the substance has different effects on
different
people, and it is possible that Mr Scaramella is more resistant to the
poison than
his friend. Sources close to the investigation confirmed the amount of
polonium-210 in Mr Scaramella's body was substantial, and it had been
detected in
his urine.

Hospital tests will check his white blood cell count for signs of
radiation
sickness. Polonium poisoning would initially affect bone marrow,
killing off
white blood cells. Mr Scaramella may not have felt ill as a result,
although he
may have felt slightly fatigued.

Officials expect Mr Scaramella's bone marrow to recover from the dose,
but
while it is impaired, he will be susceptible to infections and he is
expected to
be moved from the hospital as soon as he is cleared to avoid picking up
an
infection.

Dr Mark Little, an expert in epidemiology and public health at Imperial
College, said: "It is possible it could have been a separate incident
and have
nothing to do with Mr Litvinenko but the fact that he was at a
restaurant on
November 1 when Mr Litvinenko was possibly poisoned, it just seems to
me that it
possibly happened then.

"If you are sitting opposite someone and this is being sprayed on their
food,
it is likely you are going to get some. Some people would die from this
but
it would take you a much longer time - possibly three months."

This is what happened to survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb on
Hiroshima. At
first they appeared fine but "within two months their bone marrow
collapsed and
they died from infections and other things", said Dr Little.

Mr Scaramella is the first person to test positive since Mr
Litvinenko's
death sparked a radiation alert.

Experts from the Health Protection Agency have been advising University
College Hospital, where Mr Scaramella was admitted last night, on the
dose that the
Italian received.

Although relatively unusual, polonium occurs naturally and is present
in the
environment at very low levels.

It has many isotopes, all of which are radioactive, but polonium-210 is
the
most widely available.