Official denial Dr Laurence Gruer, consultant in public health medicine at Greater Glasgow Health Board, said extensive blood and tissue microbiology tests had been carried out on all cases presented in Glasgow hospitals. All these tests had proved entirely negative for anthrax infection. Glasgow health officials believe the heroin mixture injected by the addicts was highly acidic, and that was what caused fatal tissue damage. The possible connection to anthrax emerged after a doctor at the Norwegian Army Medical School posted details on ProMED, the internet forum for emerging diseases, of an Oslo addict who died in April after injecting heroin into a muscle. Tests showed anthrax bacilli in his spinal fluid, which was confirmed by DNA analysis.
Anthrax is common in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, where most of Europe's heroin originates.
It is possible that animal-derived material from the region, such as gelatin or bone meal, may well be contaminated with spores. Such material could have found its way into heroin. Anthrax vaccines are available but if a victim has already breathed in the bug the only known treatment is massive doses of antibiotics. Even then mortality rates remain extremely high.