VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- What ails Viktor Yushchenko?
As Ukraine's popular pro-Western opposition leader claimed victory Tuesday in hotly contested presidential elections, the mystery surrounding an appearance-altering illness that twice prompted him to check into a Vienna hospital persisted.
Yushchenko accused the Ukrainian authorities of poisoning him. His detractors suggested he'd eaten some bad sushi.
Adding to the intrigue, the Austrian doctors who treated him have asked foreign experts to help determine if his symptoms may have been caused by toxins found in biological weapons.
Medical experts said they may never know for sure what befell Yushchenko.
But the illness, whatever it was, has dramatically changed his appearance since he first sought treatment at Vienna's private Rudolfinerhaus clinic on September 10.
Known for his ruggedly handsome, almost movie star looks, Yushchenko's complexion is now pockmarked. His face is haggard, swollen and partially paralyzed. One eye often tears up.
Doctors at Rudolfinerhaus declined to comment Tuesday. By the time Yushchenko checked out of the clinic last month after returning for follow-up treatment, physicians said they could neither prove nor rule out that he had been poisoned.
Dr. Nikolai Korpan, who oversaw Yushchenko's treatment in Vienna, said the cause of his illness remained "totally open.''
Doctors were unable to confirm suspicions of poisoning because Yushchenko first checked into the clinic four days after the symptoms appeared -- too late for tests to show if poisoning had occurred, Korpan said.
At Rudolfinerhaus, Yushchenko underwent a week of intensive treatment for several illnesses, including acute pancreatitis, a viral skin disease and nerve paralysis on the left side of his face, Korpan said.
Clinic director Michael Zimpfer said doctors were unable to explain some of Yushchenko's symptoms, particularly his strong backaches.
He said they could not rule out stress or a viral infection.
Yushchenko's doctors in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, said they had determined that "chemicals not of a food origin'' had triggered the illness.
Zimpfer and the clinic's chief physician, Dr. Lothar Wicke -- who requested police protection after receiving an anonymous threat while treating Yushchenko -- later asked for outside help from "a specialist in military operations and biological weapons,'' the Austria Press Agency reported.
Yushchenko's medical files since have been sealed and turned over to Austrian prosecutors, local media reported.
Authorities have not said whether they planned to investigate further or merely turn over their findings to Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Volodymyr Syvkovych, the head of a 15-member Ukrainian parliamentary commission that investigated the mysterious illness, said a forensic medical examination found no traces of "any biological weapons'' in Yushchenko's blood, nails, hair or urine.
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I'm studying for the CPA exam. Have a nice summer, and if you're down just sit back and realize that Joe is off somewhere, doing much worse than you are.
I think it is quite clear that Viktor Yushchenko is, in fact, Emperor Palpatine.
Chronological Incontinence: Time warps around the poster. The thread topic winks out of existence and reappears in 1d10 posts.
Out of Context Theatre, this week starring Darth Nostril.
-'If you really want to fuck with these idiots tell them that there is a vaccine for chemtrails.'
Anyone else find this to be extremely fucking suspicious?
Member of the Unremarkables Just because you're god, it doesn't mean you can treat people that way : - My girlfriend Evil Brit Conspiracy - Insignificant guy
He'd have bigger problems, like dying for instance. I reckon they actually did use a toxin or maybe something else as a deliberate attempt to make him, excuse the pun, lose face.
I do have to wonder if he's had this for longer than that, though, and the earlier images involve heavy amount of makeup to hide the early stages. Then it got to serious to hide and we see a very shocking short-term transformation of appearence when it happened over a longer period of time in reality. The ability of professional makeup artists these days to conceal nearly anything (think of all the actors who look absolutely disgusting without makeup on) could have easily handled the first stages of this, and he only checked in when it progressed to a stage where they couldn't deal with it anymore.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
I don't know. The cellulitis/pockering like appearance seems hard to conceal so effectively. His eyes also look like some disruption has occurred with the connective tissue. I'd have to wonder why they'd fabricate such a story in the first place.
Admiral Valdemar wrote:He'd have bigger problems, like dying for instance. I reckon they actually did use a toxin or maybe something else as a deliberate attempt to make him, excuse the pun, lose face.
Well, it says he was in the hospital twice for whatever this was. Dying from it might have been a possibility.
