Europe

Home page

Europe

Anthrax in heroin kills eight in Europe

24 January 2010 00:25 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. Eight people have died of anthrax infection from using suspected contaminated heroin, European health authorities said on Saturday, and one expert advised users to stop taking the narcotic immediately, APA reports citing â€œReutersâ€.

Authorities said they believed a batch of heroin is circulating in Europe that is contaminated with anthrax, a fairly common bacteria whose spores can be used as a biological weapon.

Anthrax infection occurs most often in wild and domestic animals in Asia, Africa and parts of Europe.

Humans are rarely infected but touching contaminated hides or hair can cause skin lesions. If the bacillus is inhaled, it can take hold quickly and by the time symptoms show up, it usually is too late for successful treatment with antibiotics. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which monitors health in the European Union, said on its website that further anthrax cases were possible.
"The occurrence of 15 confirmed cases, including 8 deaths in a 5-week period is unusual and unexpected," it said.

England’s chief medical officer Liam Donaldson issued an alert last week to doctors and hospital emergency rooms to be on the look out for anthrax poisoning. The ECDC said investigations so far "strongly" suggested that all the cases had been infected by a common source, but said the heroin was unlikely to have been deliberately contaminated.

"Accidental contamination seems the most plausible explanation to these incidents," it said.