Archive for February 6th, 2010

* Anthrax and heroin … what’s going on?

Posted by DXer on February 6, 2010

anthrax spores

******

is a novel which answers the question

… Why did the FBI fail to solve the 2001 anthrax case?

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.
The latest announced death is actually the earliest. Prior to the announcement of this death, the earliest known death took place December 16.
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.

A drug user’s death in Germany is being linked by the Health Protection Agency and German scientists to the anthrax outbreak that killed nine heroin users in Scotland, as tests show the infection to be indistinguishable from the Scottish cases.
These results indicate that anthrax contamination in both Scotland and Germany comes from a common source.
There have been 19 confirmed anthrax infection cases in Scotland, so far, with the outbreak beginning when cases were identified in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in December.
While, the same strain of anthrax has been found in fourteen of the confirmed cases in Scotland, the others are under investigation.
Health Protection Scotland said the German patient who died mid-December has the same strain, with the agency confirming another case of anthrax in London, with the patient having a history of heroin use, though he developed symptoms end-January 2010. While, investigations continue, no connection to Scotland has been identified, yet.