Europe: Anthrax-Tainted Heroin Death Toll Up to Ten

The death toll from anthrax-tainted heroin in Europe has risen to 10 as Health Protection Scotland confirmed that a heroin user who died in the Glasgow area on December 12 was infected with anthrax. Nine of the 10 deaths occurred in Scotland; the other occurred in Germany.

anthrax spores

At least 19 drug users -- 18 of them Scottish -- have been diagnosed with anthrax since the outbreak began. A pair of heroin deaths in Sweden turned out to be unrelated, and a cluster of deaths in Portugal has not been confirmed as being linked to anthrax.

While Scottish authorities have yet to find any anthrax-tainted heroin, they believe either the heroin itself or cutting agents have been contaminated with anthrax spores. They said there is no evidence of person-to-person infection.

"While public health investigations are continuing to attempt to identify the source of the contamination, no drug samples tested to date have shown anthrax contamination, although a number of other types of potentially harmful bacteria have been found," said Colin Ramsay, an agency epidemiologist. "It must therefore be assumed that all heroin in Scotland carries the risk of anthrax contamination and users are advised to cease taking heroin by any route. While we appreciate that this may be extremely difficult advice for users to follow, it remains the only public health protection advice possible based on current evidence."

As noted in our earlier story linked to above, harm reductionists have called for other measures, ranging from informational campaigns to liberalized prescribing of pharmaceutical heroin.

Infected patients typically developed inflammation or abscesses around the injection site within one or two days and were hospitalized about four days after that. In some severe cases, the lesions developed necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease.