by Stanley Azuakola

Ronald Poppo, the 65-year old homeless man whose face was chewed off in a bizarre, now faces a bigger threat from infection than from the injuries themselves, according to experts on facial reconstruction.

Ynaija had carried a story (and graphic pictures) yesterday of how 65-year old Ronald Poppo had been attacked by a naked 31-year old, Rudy Eugene, who chewed off his face and had one of his eyes gouged out.

Doctors say Mr Poppo will require months of treatment to rebuild his features, but might be permanently disfigured. They say though Poppo is in a critical condition, facial injuries of the kind he sustained from the vicious attack are generally not life threatening. A major risk, however, for Poppo were the germs that may have been introduced by the bites from Eugene.

Meanwhile, younger brother of the attacker has said that Eugene was a sweet person who didn’t drink much or use hard drugs.

“I wish they didn’t kill him so he could tell us exactly what happened. This is very uncharacteristic of him,” said the brother, who asked for anonymity to protect his family from harassment.

Poppo has been in critical condition since the attack and updates about his condition have been scarce.