An injecting user of heroin has tested positive for the deadly disease anthrax at a London hospital, prompting fears that a batch of anthrax-tainted heroin could be on the streets of the UK's capital.
The diagnosis mirrors similar infections amongst heroin users in Scotland in December 2009, as well as a case in Norway in 2000, where an injecting heroin user died in hospital of anthrax.
Anthrax is a terrible disease, caused when spores are inhaled, injected or otherwise come into close contact with the human body (e.g. skin contact). If not treated rapidly with antibiotics, the prognosis is usually grim. Symptoms for users injecting intravenously / intramuscularly might include dark sores or lesions around the area of injection, which may appear similar to abscesses. Any users presenting such symptoms should seek immediate medical treatment. The risk of person-to-person transmission is thought to be negligible.
Most commercial heroin is manufactured in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is cut with a range of contaminants before it ends up on the street. Although nobody is suggesting that heroin may be deliberately being contaminated with deadly bacteria, Anthrax occurs regularly amongst wildlife such as cattle in central Asia. Spores of anthrax and other dangerous bacteria are more likely to be present in soil samples and animal products from the region, some of which are being used as cutting agents in heroin, according to New Scientist.
In a rather naive statement, Dr Brian McCloskey, Director of the Health Protection Agency in London, said:
"While public health investigations are ongoing, it must be assumed that all heroin in London carries the risk of anthrax contamination. Heroin users are advised to cease taking heroin by any route, if at all possible, and to seek help from their local drug treatment services. Heroin users in London are strongly encouraged, as soon as possible, to find out more about the support services in their area. They can be put in touch with local drug services and receive advice by contacting Talk to Frank."
Quite how London addicts will react to the suggestion that they 'Talk to Frank' instead of picking up their usual fix remains to be seen.
Read the official warnings at the HPA advisory page, found via Medical News Today
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