Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- A ``significant quantity'' of radioactive material was found in an Italian associate of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy who died after being poisoned with the same substance.

The amount of polonium 210 found is of immediate concern as a risk to the man's health, rather than a lower dose that may pose a latent cancer risk, a spokesman for the U.K. Health Protection Agency said today. Italy's government said the man is Mario Scaramella, an academic.

Scaramella met with Litvinenko Nov. 1, the day the former spy first reported feeling ill. The widening investigation into his death on Nov. 23 led to polonium 210 being found in at least 12 buildings, and five airliners have been examined. In a message just before his death, Litvinenko wrote that he was poisoned because of his criticism of President Vladimir Putin's government, an allegation denied by the Russian leader.

The U.K. agency was ``informed this morning that tests have established that a further person, who was in direct and very close contact with Mr. Litvinenko, has a significant quantity of the radioactive isotope polonium 210 in their body,'' the agency said in an e-mailed statement.

Polonium 210 is found in the environment and in people at low concentrations and poses a radiation risk only if it enters the body through breathing, swallowing, or via a wound. The radiation polonium emits travels a few centimeters and can be stopped by a sheet of paper.

Hospital Treatment

Scaramella will be treated at University College Hospital in London, the British Broadcasting Corp. and Sky News reported.

The office of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has been informed of Scaramella's condition, a spokesman for the U.K Cabinet Office said.

The Italian health ministry said today it had no reason to believe there was any risk to Italy's public health arising from Scaramella's recent presence in the country. Scaramella stayed in Italy ``in recent days,'' the ministry said today in an e-mailed statement.

Scaramella on Nov. 21 identified himself as the friend who had met with Litvinenko at Itsu, a sushi restaurant on London's Piccadilly, the day the former spy fell ill. Scaramella said he and Litvinenko had both received e-mailed threats.

Hotel Evacuated

The Health Protection Agency as of yesterday determined that more than 300 health-care workers and other people needed tests to determine whether they had been exposed to polonium. Twenty- four people have been referred to a specialist clinic. A hotel in Sussex, southern England, was evacuated for tests today, the Associated Press reported.

Pathologists today were autopsying Litvinenko's body to establish how the radioactive isotope entered his body. Results won't be made public until a coroner's inquest resumes, according to Camden Council, the London municipality where the coroner's court is sited. No date was given.

In a separate case, Irish police are investigating the illness of former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, who has also criticized Putin and who became sick when visiting Ireland last month.

Gaidar Illness

Russian doctors treating Gaidar believe he was poisoned, the Associated Press said yesterday, while Anatoly Chubais, Gaidar's deputy in 1992, two days ago told reporters the former leader was suffering from an ``unnatural'' illness.

Ireland's Radiological Protection Institute is testing a university visited by Gaidar and the hospital that treated him before he returned to Moscow, RTE News reported.

``We have a problem with Russia,'' European Commission President Jose Barroso told the German parliament's European Affairs committee yesterday in Berlin. ``In fact we have several problems. Too many people have been killed and we don't know who killed them.''

Chubais said he doesn't believe ``a conspiracy of bloody pro-Putin secret police'' was trying to kill Gaidar. The politician's daughter, Maria Gaidar, yesterday told the British Broadcasting Corp. that it may be a ``political poisoning.''

British Airways

U.K. Home Secretary John Reid said yesterday five planes were examined, including two British Airways Plc airliners in which an unspecified radioactive substance was found. One was later cleared, the airline said in a statement posted on its Web site. A third BA plane, which was grounded in Moscow, was to be tested on its return to the U.K., the airline said.

The two planes still being investigated, including the one in Moscow, were used on 150 flights, 34 to or from Moscow. BA yesterday was trying to contact 33,000 passengers and 3,000 staff members.

Scientists at the U.K.'s Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston, west of London, have traced the polonium 210 found in London to a nuclear power plant in Russia, the capital's Evening Standard newspaper reported today. Officials at the establishment didn't return calls.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net; Anthony DiPaola in Rome at adipaola@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 1, 2006 16:20 EST