Britain warns heroin users after second anthrax death

[spini4]

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said it presumed the source was contaminated heroin and that it was not clear whether the British cases were directly linked to eight other cases in Europe since early June.

"This could be a source of infection if injected, smoked or snorted ... there is no safe route for consuming heroin or other drugs that may be contaminated with anthrax spores," the HPA said.

Anthrax is a fairly common bacterium whose spores can be used as a biological weapon. Humans are rarely infected, but if the spores are inhaled, the disease can take hold quickly and by the time symptoms show, it can be too late for successful treatment with antibiotics.

The Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) say heroin users in Europe are still at risk of exposure to the infection.

Four of the ten European cases have been in Britain, three in Germany, two in Denmark and one in France.

"We urge all heroin users to seek urgent medical advice if they experience signs of infection such as redness or excessive swelling at or near an injection site, or ... high temperature, chills, severe headaches or breathing difficulties," HPA expert Fortune Ncube said in a statement.

An outbreak of anthrax infections in 2009/2010 in Europe was also traced to contaminated heroin, but before then, only one case had been reported - in Norway in 2000.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/anthrax-britain-death-idINL5E8KAAND20120910

 

[ro4eva]

This is some creepy ass shit.

A little off topic here - call me one of them (part-time) conspiracy theorists but I've always had a nagging suspicion someone other than the dealers/manufacturers/smugglers of South American cocaine has been and continues to mix levamisole into my precious skiing equipment. I just can't picture Pablo Escobar's successors having shareholder meetings about adding (of all things...) a potentially deadly cattle deworming agent into their product. I'd imagine they'd prefer that their customers remain alive. Considering the (known, declassified, confessed) fact that, in the past, the CIA was involved in several millions of dollars' worth of cocaine trafficking in the U.S., I would expect no less than that they, or some other federal law enforcement affiliated agency (U.S. Marshals? Just kidding) have been directly involved in mixing blow imported into the U.S. with the cow antibiotic/antihelminthic.

In light of the above conjecture, one may wonder why would a U.S. governing body knowingly put their own citizens at risk of possibly severe - and, at times, fatal - health complications? Well - this is the same agency which secretly conducted its own testing of several recreational psychotropics (for the purpose of mental and/or physical performance enhancement on the battlefield from what I remember); the same agency which considers its field agents (or other human assets) stationed abroad as expendable, and the same agency which was extensively involved in the events which led to The Watergate Scandal (which led to Nixon's resignation).

Anyways, my point being that - although probably far fetched, at least for now - these cases of anthrax infection could have a more sinister source of contamination in comparison to current theories on the whereabouts of said source. Then again, it may just be a coincidence.

 

[Mercc96]

Whilst I wouldn't put it past current governments to do such a thing, I think its likely that this outbreak of anthrax causes will have been very similar to the previous ones. I remember reading somewhere that those outbreaks were caused by heroin destined for the UK being hidden in a goats hide that was infected with the anthrax spores.

 

[ro4eva]

Whilst I wouldn't put it past current governments to do such a thing, I think its likely that this outbreak of anthrax causes will have been very similar to the previous ones. I remember reading somewhere that those outbreaks were caused by heroin destined for the UK being hidden in a goats hide that was infected with the anthrax spores.

Oh? Well that could very well be the cause of all this. Makes sense (I think?).

 

[MrGrunge]

Something tells me this really won't affect heroin sales all that much.

 

[amanitadine]

There was a fantastic article in Wired detailing the efforts to trace the anthrax. Awesome read, and yup, all signs pointed to a shipment concealed in goat hides from Afghanistan. .

 

[ro4eva]

NSFW:

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

if the contaminant was basically anything other than anthrax there wouldn't even be a story on it.

 

[cj]

Something tells me this really won't affect heroin sales all that much.

lol probably not