If you steal a car, don't drink the yogurt...
Thursday January 4 7:50 AM ET
Car Thieves Drink HIV-Infected Blood
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Two members of a gang of Brazilian car
thieves may have drank vials of HIV-infected blood -- thinking it was a
yogurt drink -- found in a stolen car, officials said on Wednesday.
Over the New Year's weekend, six armed bandits overpowered a worker at a
medical laboratory in the remote western state of Rondonia, and stole
his car while he was on the way to the airport to ship blood samples to
a distant laboratory, a spokesman for Rondonia's security secretariat
told Reuters.
"The blood samples came from AIDS patients and were being shipped for
further tests,'' the spokesman said.
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
The thieves sped out of town, but made a brief stop at a bar on their
way. After a few stiff drinks, two members of the gang uncovered the
vials and gulped them down, mistaking them for drinkable yogurt, the
spokesman added.
The two suspects apparently exposed themselves to the deadly, incurable
disease.
"I don't know how it happened, but the culprits told reporters here that
they were drunk and confused and didn't know what they were doing,'' the
spokesman said. The spokesman noted that the suspects had not told
police about drinking the blood.
Police caught four of the alleged robbers some 50 miles (80 km) down the
road after the car broke down.
