POLICE HUNT SOURCE OF KILLER HEROIN

Police and public health officials in Glasgow are trying to identify what
might have killed eight heroin addicts and left 11 more seriously ill in
the past two weeks.

The search for an explanation has centred on the possibility that a batch
of contaminated citric acid, which addicts use to dissolve heroin before
injecting, may be to blame.

In most of the cases the illness has started as an abscess at the point
where heroin had been injected.

Abscesses are not uncommon among drug users but in the recent cases they
became uncharacteristically large and severe.

Laurence Gruer, consultant in public health medicine with Greater Glasgow
health board, has said the fact that seven of the dead are women supports
the citric acid theory.

"Most of the patients appear to have been injecting into their muscles or
have accidentally missed the vein," he said.

"The most likely explanation is that they have injected heroin, or a
substance used to dissolve it, which has been contaminated with infective
or toxic material ...

"Women tend to run out of veins more quickly than men and have to resort to
muscles to get drugs in."

Citric acid is available as a household product but health board officials
said the wider community was not at risk. Preliminary tests on one batch of
acid have proved negative.

Officials were also looking at the possibility that a bad batch of heroin
may have caused the illness. Thirteen of the victims came from the
Govanhill area and the others all lived in the north of the city.

Addicts were urged to seek medical help if they developed an abscess or
severe inflammation.