ranunky
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2007
- Messages
- 1,280
Anthrax in heroin leads to deaths in Scotland
December 18th, 2009
It’s déjà vu all over again. From Scotland comes the sad news that two heroin injectors have died - of anthrax. Another is being tested for it. Injecting drug users in the region are warned to watch out for inflammation or odd, black sores where they have injected heroin into muscle.
Why déjà vu? Back in 2000, there was another spate of deaths among Scottish heroin injectors. This was before the anthrax attacks of 2001, but I had learned about the bacillus at bioweapons conferences and the Scots’ symptoms sounded familiar. Plus, an addict in Norway had just died of very definite anthrax, thought to have been in his heroin. I called public health in Glasgow, and told the doctor investigating the cases, Syed Ahmed, about the Norwegian case.
Awareness of anthrax was very low in those days. Ahmed was interested; I put him in touch with anthrax scientists I knew. Then the UK biodefence lab in England reported molecular traces of anthrax in two of the victims.
The swarm of bacilli that should have accompanied anthrax was missing, however. Our article called anthrax a prime suspect but said it might not be to blame: that was where things stood when we went to press, and it was important to get the story out. Heroin shipments go all over Europe, and cases in this outbreak had already turned up in Ireland and England as well. The Scots, as required, had warned only local health authorities. More people needed to know what might be circulating.
I am still at a loss to explain what happened then. Perhaps it was the chance to use the words “anthrax” and “heroin” in the same headline, but British press stampeded for the story. The Scots health authorities were not prepared for the onslaught.
I got hysterical emails from Glasgow accusing me of unleashing the deluge. My editor and I went on TV news shows to explain the difference between “possible suspect” and “Augh! We’re all going to die!”
Eventually, scientists from the UK’s health ministry managed to culture some bacteria from the victims: the species was Clostridium novyi, like anthrax a soil bacterium, with toxins that produce similar symptoms. We were right to worry it was more widespread - a search of Scottish medical records eventually turned up 60 more cases, most in Glasgow, 23 definitely the same syndrome. But C. novyi turned up in only 13 of the 60, 8 of the definites, and none of the heroin sampled - though the heroin carried two other Clostridia.
Was C. novyi the culprit in all the other cases? Maybe, maybe not. And now there are cases where it really is anthrax.
I stand by my story: we were right to sound the alarm. Most street heroin comes from Afghanistan, Pakistan and their neighbours, where anthrax is common in animals, and shipped heroin is often cut with other beige powders, such as diatomaceous earth or bone meal that can often contain anthrax spores.
Police are still looking for the source of the anthrax this time. But what we editorialised then is still true, one anthrax attack later: no one watches heroin for odd germs, despite vast improvements in microbial screening technology since 2000. Maybe they should.
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/12/anthrax-in-heroin-leads-to-dea.html
December 18th, 2009
It’s déjà vu all over again. From Scotland comes the sad news that two heroin injectors have died - of anthrax. Another is being tested for it. Injecting drug users in the region are warned to watch out for inflammation or odd, black sores where they have injected heroin into muscle.
Why déjà vu? Back in 2000, there was another spate of deaths among Scottish heroin injectors. This was before the anthrax attacks of 2001, but I had learned about the bacillus at bioweapons conferences and the Scots’ symptoms sounded familiar. Plus, an addict in Norway had just died of very definite anthrax, thought to have been in his heroin. I called public health in Glasgow, and told the doctor investigating the cases, Syed Ahmed, about the Norwegian case.
Awareness of anthrax was very low in those days. Ahmed was interested; I put him in touch with anthrax scientists I knew. Then the UK biodefence lab in England reported molecular traces of anthrax in two of the victims.
The swarm of bacilli that should have accompanied anthrax was missing, however. Our article called anthrax a prime suspect but said it might not be to blame: that was where things stood when we went to press, and it was important to get the story out. Heroin shipments go all over Europe, and cases in this outbreak had already turned up in Ireland and England as well. The Scots, as required, had warned only local health authorities. More people needed to know what might be circulating.
I am still at a loss to explain what happened then. Perhaps it was the chance to use the words “anthrax” and “heroin” in the same headline, but British press stampeded for the story. The Scots health authorities were not prepared for the onslaught.
I got hysterical emails from Glasgow accusing me of unleashing the deluge. My editor and I went on TV news shows to explain the difference between “possible suspect” and “Augh! We’re all going to die!”
Eventually, scientists from the UK’s health ministry managed to culture some bacteria from the victims: the species was Clostridium novyi, like anthrax a soil bacterium, with toxins that produce similar symptoms. We were right to worry it was more widespread - a search of Scottish medical records eventually turned up 60 more cases, most in Glasgow, 23 definitely the same syndrome. But C. novyi turned up in only 13 of the 60, 8 of the definites, and none of the heroin sampled - though the heroin carried two other Clostridia.
Was C. novyi the culprit in all the other cases? Maybe, maybe not. And now there are cases where it really is anthrax.
I stand by my story: we were right to sound the alarm. Most street heroin comes from Afghanistan, Pakistan and their neighbours, where anthrax is common in animals, and shipped heroin is often cut with other beige powders, such as diatomaceous earth or bone meal that can often contain anthrax spores.
Police are still looking for the source of the anthrax this time. But what we editorialised then is still true, one anthrax attack later: no one watches heroin for odd germs, despite vast improvements in microbial screening technology since 2000. Maybe they should.
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/12/anthrax-in-heroin-leads-to-dea.html
