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WASHINGTON-More than 90,000 babies were physically abused or neglected and about 500 were killed in the United States in 2006, health officials said on Thursday.Physical abuse included beating, kicking, biting, burning and shaking, and neglect included abandonment, maternal drug use or failing to meet basic needs like housing, food, clothing and access to medical care, according to the report-the first by the U.S. government focusing on maltreatment in the first year of life.They are particularly troubling because children who suffer such abuse tend to go on to have numerous health and other problems, officials said."The findings do demonstrate a clear pattern of early neglect and physical abuse that is largely preventable," Ileana Arias, who heads injury prevention efforts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters.Based on data from child protection agencies in 45 states, the report said 91,278 children up to age 1-23.2 per 1,000 infants-suffered substantiated maltreatment in fiscal 2006, which ran from October 1, 2005, to September 30, 2006.Of these, 29,881 were maltreated before they were one week old-primarily during their first four days, the CDC said. Most cases were reported by medical personnel. Thirteen percent of those week-old babies had been subjected to physical abuse."One hypothesis for the concentration of maltreatment and neglect reports in the first few days of life is that the majority of reports resulted from maternal or newborn drug tests," the CDC report said.The report said 905,000 U.S. children of all ages were victims of maltreatment substantiated by government agencies during the 12 months studied.To read more go to:
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0327933820080403
As in the days of Noah....
