DRUG-ADDICT MYSTERY DEEPENS AS SEVEN DIE IN ENGLAND FROM ILLNESS

THE mystery illness responsible for the deaths of 14 drug addicts in
Glasgow has killed seven people in England and Wales, public health
officials revealed yesterday.

Officials from the Public Health Laboratory Service say 14 cases of the
mystery illness have been found in injecting drug users in England and
Wales, seven of whom have died. American experts have been called in to
help track down the cause of the deaths.

The condition seems to affect heroin addicts who inject the drug into the
muscle or under the skin, rather than into a vein.

The first case occurred in England on 24 April and doctors have been urged
to be vigilant for more cases. A further four addicts in Glasgow and one in
Lanarkshire are in hospital with the illness, taking the number of
confirmed cases in the Glasgow area to 31. Fourteen people have died.

Two people have died in the Grampian area and one person is seriously ill
in a Lanarkshire hospital. Another 15 have also been affected in Dublin,
eight of whom have died.

All are believed to have injected heroin directly into the muscle tissue
and suffered severe inflammation around the site of injection before
falling seriously ill.

Victims suffer a septacemia-type illness and need intensive care, but some
have died from multiple organ failure within hours.

Health officials in Glasgow said they suspected the mystery illness was
caused by anaerobic bacteria, which live in the absence of oxygen. Examples
of the infections that some of the bacteria cause are tetanus, botulism and
gas gangrene.

Greater Glasgow Health Board said the bacteria were being investigated as
two more deaths, one in Glasgow and one in Dublin, were recorded.

A spokesman for the health board said microbiologists from Scotland,
England, Ireland and the United States had discussed the possibility of the
anaerobic bacteria being the cause of the infection.

"Such bacteria, if present in the heroin, could really cause infection in
the area of muscle or other tissue damaged by contact with the acid and
heroin mixture," said the spokesman. "They can, however, be difficult to
isolate."

All bacteria are either anaerobic, living in the absence of oxygen, or
aerobic, living in the presence of oxygen.

The announcement that the hunt for the cause of the illness is
concentrating on anaerobic bacteria means there are still thousands of
bacteria which may have caused the infection.

Dr Noel Gill, of the PHLS, said: "This does give cause for concern and what
has been happening in Glasgow and Dublin is unusual.

"We are still looking at the cases in England and Wales and it will be five
or six days before we know whether the cases are linked, but they do seem
to have common factors."

Officials are not saying where the cases occurred in England and Wales.