Infections can be fairly mild, like a rash with blisters, or they can become severe abscesses requiring surgery and months of antibiotics to cure.

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In 2001, patients requiring elective surgery could wait as long as 18 months for an operation.

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Then, in September, Burlew sliced his thumb open on a piece of broken glass, severing tendons and requiring emergency surgery.

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Villa then enjoyed a lengthy period of possession but the home defence, boosted by the return of David Wheater, who was playing despite requiring knee surgery, held firm.

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After a Canadian ambulance carrying a patient requiring emergency surgery was stopped en route to Detroit, Stockwell Day, the security minister, asked Michael Chertoff, his American counterpart, to review border procedures.

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GPs are private contractors, and independently run treatment centres, introduced by Labour, provide around 5% of elective surgery requiring short hospital stays.

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Her father had been injured, though, and then cited, requiring, first, surgery and, next, perhaps, a lawyer.

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This results in most grafts requiring replacement within a year, and many patients require remedial surgery up to three times a year.

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These are the patients who are in the top one per cent of costs because they were in a car crash that resulted in a hundred thousand dollars in surgery and intensive-care expenses, or had a cancer requiring seven thousand dollars a week for chemo and radiation.

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