Fatal Anthrax Case in Germany Same Strain as Scottish Cases

Tests carried out at the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and Friedrich-Loeffler Institute (FLI) on the strain of anthrax isolated from a heroin user who died in Germany in mid December have shown it is indistinguishable from strains isolated from anthrax cases in Scotland. This suggests that the anthrax contamination in both countries, thought to originate in the heroin supply, could share a common source. This could suggest that the contamination of the heroin may have occurred prior to distribution of the heroin in Scotland and Germany, however it does not offer definitive proof.

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Anthrax-Tainted Heroin Takes Toll in Europe, Prompts Calls for Emergency Public Health Response

European heroin users are on high alert as the death toll rises from heroin tainted with anthrax. At least eight people have died — seven in Scotland and one in Germany — since early December, and another 14 Scottish heroin users have been hospitalized after being diagnosed with anthrax. Meanwhile, drug reform and drug user activists are reporting a cluster of nine suspicious heroin-related deaths in Coimbra, Portugal, although it is unclear at this point whether they are linked to anthrax-tainted heroin. The Scottish government has responded by urging heroin users to stop using and to seek drug treatment. That advice has not gone over well with drug users and public health and harm reduction advocates, who are demanding an emergency public health response.

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Eighth drug user dies in Anthrax outbreak

The number of drug addicts who have died after being infected with anthrax has risen to eight, officials have said.

The latest death came in the Glasgow area, Health Protection Scotland said. A second patient, also a drug user, was also confirmed to be infected with the deadly bacteria after using what is believed to be a contaminated batch of heroin.

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Scottish government to spend £4.5 million on drug injecting equipment

The Scottish Government is to spend £4.5million over three years on needles and other drug equipment to give to addicts. Hospitals and prisons will be supplied with syringes, swabs, citric acid and even spoons. The Government says the aim is to cut the numbers of addicts getting hepatitis C through sharing needles.

But drug expert Professor Neil McKeganey said they should concentrate on getting addicts OFF drugs, rather than help to feed their habits.

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Seven dead, 14 hospitalised… who is infecting Scotland’s heroin with anthrax?

It is a health scare which has seen seven people die in Scotland so far with another 14 hospitalised, yet there is no panic in the streets, few headlines and little fearful talk in homes or in offices.

The reason for the silence? The victims are all drug addicts, a faceless heroin-injecting underclass, who few care about. In the last month, anthrax-infected heroin has killed four people in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, two in Tayside and one in the Forth Valley.

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The reality of getting help for drug users in Scotland.

It was minus 9 overnight most of last week in Glasgow, with snow and heavy frost. The Scottish Government and the Local Authorities across Scotland – like those in England – put into place emergency support for homeless people. Day centres were to be opened at night if required and special support was being urged for those sleeping rough in this most inhospitable of winters.

Of course we know that across the UK many of those who sleep rough are affected by substance misuse problems and for significant numbers of homeless people, heroin use and rough sleeping are inextricably entwined. But for Scotland’s drug users over the past few weeks, there has been a far more frightening threat than the cold weather. There’s been anthrax.

Between the 16th December and today, 7 people in Glasgow, Stirling and Dundee have died from Anthrax. It is reported that a further seven are in hospital receiving treatment for the infection. Health Protection Scotland have suggested that contaminated heroin is the likely cause of the infections saying

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Heroin contaminated with anthrax could kill fifty addicts in Scotland

The outbreak began in Glasgow but doctors now believe contaminated heroin is circulating all over Scotland. They fear the death toll could match that of a similar case among Scottish heroin addicts in 2000 that claimed 43 lives.

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Nationwide alert after anthrax-tainted heroin kills six addicts in Scotland

Hospitals, ambulance services and GPs warned to watch out for suspected cases as six more seriously ill in hospital

A nationwide alert has been issued to hospitals, ambulance services and GPs after a batch of heroin contaminated with anthrax killed six addicts in Scotland, raising fears for drug users across the UK.

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Second anthrax death in Scotland

Health authorities in Scotland have confirmed that a second heroin user, who tested positive for anthrax, has died.

The man was being treated at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Last week, another man with the infection died in the city’s Victoria Infirmary. A woman who also tested positive is being treated at the hospital.

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Anthrax in heroin leads to deaths in Scotland