Brazilian boy jabbed with needles needs another operation

BRASILIA - Doctors treating a Brazilian boy whose body was jabbed with dozens of sewing needles say he will have to be operated again, after they were able to take out four of them.

The needles removed had been stuck near the heart and lungs. When removing them, the doctors found that they were rusty, which could have caused the infection complicating the boy’s state of health, the spokeswoman for the Ana Nery Hospital in the town of Salvador, Isabel Guimaraes, told EFE.

The boy, who police suspect was the victim of a black magic rite, was operated on this Friday and is recovering “satisfactorily”, through he remains in the intensive care unit as a precaution, doctors said Saturday.

According to Guimaraes, “if the situation stays like it is, additional surgery will be performed to remove some needles in the abdomen and others stuck into the bladder and the digestive tract”.

Guimaraes said that the doctors still have not been able to determine exactly how many needles pierced the boy.

At first the number 50 was mentioned, then 42 and now it is believed there were 31, so that he would still have at least 27 needles in his body.

Police have detained as suspects the boy’s stepfather and two women, one of them dedicated to the practice of black magic rituals.

The authorities say that the stepfather has confessed to asking for “help” from these women to take revenge on his wife.

–EFE