MYSTERY HEROIN DISEASE CLAIMS FIVE MORE VICTIMS

The mystery illness that has led to the deaths of 15 drug addicts in
Scotland has now killed five people in North-west England.

Two heroin users from Liverpool and three from Manchester have died over the
past month from the still unidentified illness, bringing the number of
deaths in Britain and Ireland up to 35.

A spokesman for the NHS Executive North West said yesterday that it had
identified nine cases in the two cities during the past month, and five of
them had now died. The cases are being linked to the deaths in Scotland as
well as eight in Dublin and seven in other parts of England.

Health officials believe that the illness has been caused by anaerobic
bacteria, which survive without oxygen and can cause tetanus, botulism and
gas gangrene.

The speed of the infection initially led to theories that the outbreaks of
the disease had been caused by anthrax, but tests have now confirmed the
emergence of an unknown bug.

Specimens from the most recent Glasgow deaths are being tested at specialist
laboratories in Britain and at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
in Atlanta, Georgia.

It is thought that the illness sets in when heroin is injected into muscle
or other tissue, rather than into a vein. The early symptoms include
swelling or inflammation around the site of the injection, followed by
abscesses that become worse over several days. The patient usually suffers
toxic shock and has to be taken into intensive care.

The spread of effects is rapid, and culminates in an attack on the heart,
kidneys and liver. Once these vital organs have been reached, treatment is
useless.

Professor John Ashton, the regional director of public health, said: "We are
very concerned that the infection has appeared in the North-west. As yet we
have found no pattern, either in where the patients come from or in their
supply of heroin.

"We are working closely with the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre
and our colleagues in Scotland and Ireland to identify the cause of the
illness."

Professor Ashton added that local monitoring arrangements had been set up in
all hospitals in the region, and GPs and health workers had been informed of
the position.

The Scottish National Party yesterday called for an urgent inquiry into the
deaths. Rose-anna Cunningham, MSP, the shadow Minister of Justice, and her
deputy, Michael Matheson, want the Scottish Executive to investigate the
deaths.

"It is difficult to escape the conclusion that if 15 people had died with
unexplained non-drug-related symptoms in such a short space of time, an
inquiry would already have been set up," Ms Cunningham said.

"At present, health officials remain unclear as to the exact nature of the
toxin responsible for these fatalities. This situation cannot be allowed to
drift any further," she said.

Health officials in continental European countries have been alerted about
the outbreaks, and Customs and Excise is co-operating in making checks on
consignments of drugs it has intercepted on their way from the Indian
sub-continent, which may have been tainted.