NEW BUG MAY BE CAUSE OF DRUG ADDICTS' DEATHS

AN ENTIRELY new type of micro-organism may have killed 19 heroin addicts in
Glasgow and Dublin in the past month, the scientist investigating the case
said last night.

The possibility that a hitherto unknown organism could be to blame, as was
the case when Legionnaire's disease appeared in 1976, emerged as Greater
Glasgow Health Board said that 12 deaths in the Glasgow area shared a
common cause with seven in south-west Dublin.

The latest Glasgow victim was confirmed yesterday as it was revealed that
the death of a young mother of one in Aberdeen was linked to the mounting
toll last night.

Grampian Health Board said there appeared to be similarities with the
Glasgow and Dublin fatalities and the death in hospital of Rachael Wilson,
25, a heroin addict, on Sunday.

Dr Laurence Gruer, head of addiction services with GGHB, said that after
exhausting "all the obvious possibilities", scientists were considering the
"totally unexpected".

He said: "We have to consider the possibility that there is a completely
new bacterium. Just think back to Legionnaire's disease. When that first
came along no-one knew what that one was. We have to keep our minds open here."

Dr Gruer said that scientists were also investigating whether botulism-like
bacteria present as spores in heroin were responsible for the condition,
which has infected 26 addicts in Glasgow and 14 in Dublin.

Although the Clostridium bacteria thrive only in the absence of oxygen, he
said that the citric acid which addicts used to dissolve heroin can destroy
muscle and provide them with ideal conditions. Once released from suspended
animation, the bacteria produce powerful toxins which result in organ
failure, including a weakened heart.

When five drug addicts died in a three-week spell in San Francisco last
year, Clostridum perfringens was blamed. As with the Glasgow addicts, large
abscesses spread from around the injection areas.

Botulism, which produces the most powerful toxin known to man, is a member
of the same family of bacteria, but is not believed to be involved in the
current deaths.

Dr Gruer said that weekend talks with counterparts in Dublin had revealed
the Irish and Scottish cases appeared to be "identical". He said: "It looks
as though whatever has been causing the problem in Glasgow has also been
causing the problem in Dublin. That would tend to be compatible with some
batch of heroin that had found its way into both cities."

Dr Joe Barry, a health medicine specialist with Eastern Regional Health
Board in the Irish Republic, said: "We agree that we seem to be dealing
with the same phenomenon in both cities and we very much value our
collaboration with investigators in Scotland."

Dr Gruer said that another possible cause was a known bug which had simply
been overlooked as a candidate.

He cited the example of Helicobacter pylori, which was regarded as an
innocuous until the early 1980s, but is now known to cause peptic ulcers.

Tissue samples from addicts are now being analysed at the Center for
Disease Control in Atlanta, where Legionnaire's disease was first
identified. One of the centre's leading epidemiologists, Dr Jai Lingappa,
is in Glasgow.

The Department of Health's centre for applied microbiology and research at
Porton Down, Wiltshire, is also continuing to check samples after two
apparently positive results for anthrax were later discounted.

Ms Wilson's parents, Hugh and Margaret, released a brief statement on their
daughter's death. The couple said: "We have been devastated by the death of
Rachael who was a loving daughter, caring sister and devoted mother.

"This loss will be felt by all her friends and relatives and we are just
beginning to come to terms with the tragedy. "