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Arafat to undergo more tests
03/11/2004 12:46 - (SA)
Clamart - Tests on Yasser Arafat showed problems with his digestion, but the Palestinian leader has recovered sufficiently for him to undergo further examinations that could not be performed when he was first rushed to France, an aide said.
Arafat, 75, felt well enough to ask about the United States presidential election and over the past two days was able to talk with doctors, colleagues and heads of state, Palestinian officials said.
Nevertheless, there was still no public information about the cause of his dramatic deterioration in health.
Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to France, said on Tuesday that tests had shown an improvement in Arafat's white blood cell count but also "persistent abnormalities" in indicators for digestive function.
She gave no details.
Sparing him
Shahid, speaking on Wednesday on the LCI television station, said that it is "going too far" to say Arafat is closely following the US presidential race.
"He looks at newspaper headlines, he asks for information," she said.
"We are trying to spare him. He has no television in his room because he is too taken up with the exams he is undergoing," Shahid said, expressing concern about an eventual new mandate for President George W Bush whose administration "has led the politics of war more than the politics of peace."
Israeli military intelligence's latest judgment is that doctors have not completed their diagnosis, but are considering that Arafat has either a viral stomach disorder that can be treated, or some form of stomach cancer, according to an Israeli official.
Shahid said Tuesday that initials tests "confirmed an abnormal blood count, high white blood cell count and low platelet count and ruled out the diagnosis of leukemia."
Doctors are still investigating.
"President Arafat's condition has improved sufficiently for him to undergo tests that would not have been performed upon admission," Shahid said, reading from a statement she said was drafted by the French military hospital treating Arafat and released with his consent.
"For the past 48 hours, he has been able to converse with his doctors and close relatives, colleagues and heads of state," she said.
Arafat, who has been ill for three weeks, took a turn for the worse October 27, collapsing and briefly losing consciousness. Initial blood tests performed while he was still in Ramallah in the West Bank revealed a low blood platelet count. Platelets are blood components that aid clotting.
- AP
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