Deaths among heroin users present a puzzle
Hagmann, M.
Science 288(5473): 1941
2000
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 10877703 Document Number: 522484
A recent spate of deaths among heroin users in Europe has puzzled researchers. Over the past 6 weeks, over 30 heroin users in the U.K. and Ireland have died from a mysterious inflammation that caused their organs to shut down within hours. Initially, health officials believed that the deaths were caused by the notorious biological warfare agent anthrax, which may have contaminated a batch of heroin. However, microbiologists on both sides of the Atlantic reported that, somewhat reassuringly, the deaths were not caused by anthrax. Suspicion now focuses on Clostridia, a family of over 30 species that includes the bacteria that cause botulism, tetanus, and gas gangrene.