Milan: When Italian health officials came to remove a woman from the apartment she has not left in more than two decades they had to don respirators against the stench, newspapers reported on Sunday.
The woman, named only as “Carmela”, was in her late 50s, weighed about 30 kg and had hair two metres (seven feet) long when officials came to take her to hospital, La Repubblica, Il Giorno and La Stampa newspapers reported.
Firefighters and health officials in Macerata, a city about 200 km (120 miles) northeast of Rome, found the apartment's windows sealed with adhesive tape and the shutters jammed shut.
A bout of influenza 26 years ago terrified Carmela so much that she tried to seal herself off from germs by barricading herself in her home, the papers said.
Her plight came to the attention of Italian authorities after her brother, who leaves tinned food outside her front door, called police to say that upcoming medical treatment would prevent him from carrying on.
"Adamo" has not seen his sister in 10 years, La Republicca reported.
Carmela's main contact with neighbours has been to shout a single message through her door.
"Shut the window on the landing," she would say.
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