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'Kiss of life' inventor dies at 79

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The American Heart Association announced Monday the death of Dr. Peter Safar, the physician credited with inventing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

AHA officials said Safar died Sunday at the age of 79, but no cause of death was announced.

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The BBC said Safar -- whose pioneering "Kiss of Life" procedure is credited with saving countless lives -- was born in Austria in the 1920s and survived a Nazi labor camp before emigrating to the U.S. after the war.

Although there are ancient references to the apparent use of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in the Bible, the technique fell out of practice until rediscovered by Safar in the 1950s. Also credited with playing a key role was his colleague, Dr James Elam.

In the 1960s the technique was combined with new chest compressions, producing what's known today as CPR, or cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

Safar was a professor at the University of Pittsburgh medical school. He also helped create the organization that, in 1976, became the World Association for disaster and Emergency Medicine.

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