INFECTION KILLS 18TH HEROIN USER

An unidentified infection that has been killing heroin addicts in Scotland
and Ireland has claimed another victim, health officials in Glasgow said
yesterday. Twenty-six drug users in Glasgow and 14 in Dublin have contracted
the illness; 18 of them have died.

In Glasgow the illness emerged early this month, with 17 of the 26 cases
affecting women and eight women being among the 12 dead.

All are believed to have injected heroin direct into muscle tissue and have
suffered severe inflammation around the site of the injection.

The Dublin cases have followed a similar pattern as far as the illness is
concerned, but most of the victims have been men.

Health officials in Glasgow said they had spoken to their Irish counterparts
and concluded that the two outbreaks were likely to have the same cause.

Last week tests at the chemical warfare research centre in Porton Down,
Wiltshire, ruled out anthrax, which scientists had suggested as the cause of
the Glasgow outbreak.

American specialists have been called in to help the investigations in both
cities. Tissue samples from those affected have been sent to the centre for
disease control and prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.