Caterina Simonsen in hospital after backlash over defence of animal testing Death threats for sick Italian student 25 year-old Caterina Simonsen has defended her Facebook posting saying she owes her life to medicines developed from testing on laboratory mice, after death threats from animal rights activists. PT0M48S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-302n2 620 349 December 30, 2013 - 2:55PM An Italian woman who received death threats after declaring in an internet posting that she owed her life to medicines developed from testing on laboratory mice has been admitted to hospital with a severe lung infection. Caterina Simonsen, 25, last week appeared on Italian national television to answer abuse from animal rights militants who took exception to her Facebook post in which she defended the use of testing on animals for medical purposes. In that post on December 21, she uploaded a photo of herself with a message: "I am 25 thanks to genuine research that includes experiments on animals. Caterina Simonsen: "I would have been dead at nine." Without research, I would have been dead at nine. You have gifted me a future. Ms Simonsen, who is studying to be a veterinarian at the University of Bologna and has several dogs, suffers from four rare genetic disorders and cannot breathe without the aid of oxygen tubes. Since she made the controversial comments on social media, she claims to have received more than 30 "death wishes" and 500 abusive messages on her Facebook page. Caterina SImonsen suffers from four rare genetic disorders and cannot breathe without the aid of oxygen tubes Photo: Facebook One anti-vivisection activist wrote to her on Facebook: "You could die tomorrow. Another wrote: "If you had died as a child, no-one would have given a damn." Now Ms Simonsen, from Padua, has been admitted to the General Hospital of Padua with a severe lung infection. She is expected to remain there for up to three weeks. Italian woman Caterina Simonsen faced down anti-vivisectionist critics on TV. Caterina's mother told the Italian newspaper la Repubblica that the pressure of the past week had made it ""a difficult time"" for her daughter. "This story certainly does not help matters," she said. Ms Simonsen told la Repubblica over the phone from her hospital bed that doctors were using the most powerful antibiotic available to fight her lung infection. ..." the bacteria have become resistant to those that I used," she told the newspaper. It is a bit more serious than usual. Doctors say I will have to stay there for two or three weeks. I'll spend the New Year in the hospital. Asked what she thought of people who had threatened her online, she replied: "I think they are ignorant people. "Ignorant in the sense that they ignore the reality, laws, and also what [medicines] they take," she said. They are animal rights activists, but if you do not cure your dog when he is sick, who are you? And your son? Do [you] not heal when your child is sick? But if you do not cure your son you go in jail, they know it. They lack common sense. Following a number of initial threats online, Ms Simonsen made a video that was played repeatedly in Italian media on Sunday. Ms Simonsen also said she had received messages of support on Facebook and Twitter from around the world, including one from Matteo Renzi, the popular centre-left leader widely expected to be a future prime minister. Fairfax Media with Reuters