Health - Warning over bug found in contaminated heroin batches

[Lunar Loops]

This article is from The Herald in Scotland, but this is a general warning for all of the UK and Ireland (if the last outbreak is anything to go by):

Warning over bug found in contaminated heroin batches

A nationwide alert has been issued after a new batch of contaminated heroin, which previously killed more than 40 people mostly in Scotland, was discovered.
Heroin batches contaminated with the Clostridium bacterium is at the centre of the new scare which has already claimed one life.
A batch of heroin contaminated with the bacterial spores is thought to be at the centre of infection cases in Essex and Kent.
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The Health Protection Agency has sent a circular to health service organisations and partners, including needle exchanges, to warn of the new contamination.
Inquiries are understood to be under way about whether the new outbreak is linked to a potentially fatal batch of contaminated heroin, known as "red heroin", being sold in Scotland. Last week Strathclyde and Dumfries and Galloway police forces issued warnings to addicts not to use the "red" substance.
The Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency is also ensuring the message about the heroin contaminated with Clostridium goes out in Scotland, which was hardest hit by the previous outbreak seven years ago.
Then, there were a total of 108 cases - 60 in Scotland, including 50 in Glasgow, 26 in England and 22 in Dublin. There were 43 deaths with more than 20 in Glasgow.
Epidemiological analysis combined with police investigations in Glasgow and Dublin showed the distribution of cases coincided with specific networks of drug supply. Analysis of the contaminated heroin found it was derived from opium produced in Afghanistan.
Extensive microbiological investigations led to the identification of Clostridium novyi Type A from 13 cases in Scotland, two in Dublin and two in England.
C novyi is most commonly associated with infection in farm animals and human battlefield victims.
Experts say illness typically developed in long- standing drug injectors who had injected into muscle. Citric acid often added to the drug before injecting may help "activate" the spores.
After several days of infection there was moderate to severe inflammation at the point of the injection, followed in many cases by "multi- system failure" and death despite intensive treatment.
Experts from the Health Protection Agency say that there was further concern in 2001 that part of the batch of heroin that may have been the source of the original outbreak was again in circulation, and in December 2003 to March 2004 a similar outbreak occurred due to Clostridium histolyticum.
The agency said that continued vigilance is now required to detect, promptly treat, and report any further cases.
It has also warned medical staff in hospitals to watch out for the symptoms so that cases are reported to consultants in communicable disease control sections of health protection units and properly recorded.
The Health Protection Agency said: "Between April 1 and August 1, 2000, over 30 heroin injectors died from a serious rare infection. Since June 2008, new cases have been identified and a further death.
"Doctors think that an infection in the muscle tissue of these drug users - caused by a bug called Clostridium - gets steadily worse over a few days. Eventually, the bacteria in the muscle release enough toxin into the bloodstream to cause a very severe illness which often leads to rapid death."
They say the drug users affected have usually injected heroin into a muscle or under the skin, known as skin- popping, and have had swelling, redness and pain where they have injected themselves.
"It is not certain whether only one batch of heroin is responsible for the recent cases, or if many supplies of heroin might have been affected," the agency said. "This infection can only be caught by injecting. It can't be caught by having sex or living with a drug user who has the infection."
Medical experts urge anyone with symptoms to get to hospital quickly - but warn that the infection is hard to treat, even with modern antibiotics. Surgeons can cut away the dead tissue containing the bacteria.

Reputation Comments on this post:

propper

[Clover4]

Brick dust red coloured gear in our area Midlands for nearly a month now, different reports mainly that its weaker. no reported links as yet to Clostridium. )fingers crossed)

[Solinari]

What exactly is this red about, is it suppose to be red powder or red on the tin foil? Obviously if people are injecting it then the powder must be red or they wouldn't know. Is this "red" gear suppose to be the same stuff that is solidifying in the syringe?

Is this suppose to be the same as this Heroin batch death risk warning stuff? I ask because my fiend said the stuff that solidified was greyish but now that he thinks about it, he said it might have had a red tinge in it.

I hope this shite goes away soon, i don't understand what the fuck is going on.

[Lunar Loops]

Originally Posted by Solinari

What exactly is this red about, is it suppose to be red powder or red on the tin foil? Obviously if people are injecting it then the powder must be red or they wouldn't know. Is this "red" gear suppose to be the same stuff that is solidifying in the syringe?

Is this suppose to be the same as this Heroin batch death risk warning stuff? I ask because my fiend said the stuff that solidified was greyish but now that he thinks about it, he said it might have had a red tinge in it.

I hope this shite goes away soon, i don't understand what the fuck is going on.

As far as SWILL can gather from the reports, this warning and the one that you linked to (concerning the red powder) are two different warnings. The red H does indeed refer to the colour of the powder as far as SWILL is aware and it is this that forms into crystals.

This latest warning involves contamination by bacteria and the initial cases were reported in Essex and Kent. There was an outbreak of this many years ago that led to deaths in Scotland, England and Ireland; hence their nationwide warning, but as far as SWILL is aware there have been no cases of this outside of Essex and Kent to date.

[Solinari]

Is this red colour suppose to be quite prominent or is it subtle? My fiend got a bag and it seems fine, the colour doesn't appear red in the slightest, in fact he thinks the colour is just right. Never the less this does make him a bit paranoid.

I recall this contamination thing that happened a couple of years back. It would be nice to see this stuff so people know what to look for.

[Panthers007]

The power of suggestion, mixed with paranoia, will likely color every bag of powder one sees red. People will need to be objective - or ask a neutral party: "What colour do you think this is?"

[fnord]

If someone had a large amount of this stuff couldent they can check if its contaimnated by growing out a culture and seeing what color it stains using gram staining? It should show up deep blue with a purple tint.

More importantly what could be done to clean this heroin up? Would a normal wash destroy it? How does heroin get infected with bacteria?

[englishkid]

I would imagine there is some kind of organic matter in the heroin for the bacteria to survive that long. It's also gotta be damp amd warm.
It sounds suss to me.

[Solinari]

According to my fiend this heroin he has is not red, it doesn't even look like it has a tinge of red in it unlike the other grey stuff he got that in hind site, did have a tinge of red.

The thing is, now there are two warnings about "red" heroin, one that solidifies in the syringe and this other stuff (that may or may not solidify) that could be contaminated, it's ridiculous . This stuff that solidified, i hope it is the same stuff because they are both suppose to have this red colour or tinge and with it solidifying then it would be easier to know the shit is dodgy. From what i have heard anyway, this solidifying shit is weak as fuck and not worth using anyway.

My fiend reckons some retard has cut a large batch of perfectly good Afghan brown (is that an oxymoron? ) with something that has completely fucked the gear up and made it solidify or crystallise in the syringe and maybe even contaminating it with some deadly bacteria. I am not so sure there is a dodgy "solidifying" batch AND a dodgy "bacteria" batch, i wouldn't be surprised if they are the same.

As it happens my fiends doctor warned him about "red" heroin months ago then at his next appointment he asked more about it but the doctor wasn't sure if the powder was red or if it was red on the foil.

As if there isn't enough dangers with street heroin, users have to put up with this shit. What if an every day user has no choice and can only score this shite? I don't know how legalisation of heroin would work but there has to be a middle ground that can avoid these kind of things happening altogether while taking profits away from criminals.

[CandiGirl]

As if there isn't enough dangers with street heroin, users have to put up with this shit. What if an every day user has no choice and can only score this shite? I don't know how legalization of heroin would work but there has to be a middle ground that can avoid these kind of things happening altogether while taking profits away from criminals.[/quote]

Totally fucking agreed! This has gotta stop... My friend is currently a nervous wreck coz of this shit. Having panic attacks all day long as they think it's going to kill them. Only today they called me to say there's some new gear about and that when smoked it makes the tongue numb... WTF is all that about? Is it cut with crack or sulphate coke? Doesn't make sense!

The gear that crystallizes in my friends wood is very light grey...

[calmurphy17]

Like I mentioned in the other thread-heroin drought in uk-things are back to normal in my area,in some ways better than they ever were <best gear ever but only available in singles generally> and in some ways worse <weight not generally available,prohibitively expensive when it is>

But why would would anyone deliberately add what amounts to a biological agent to heroin?it just doesnt add up,could the contaminaation happen by accident somehow?I remember a good few years ago in scotland there was a flesh eating bug in the heroin and people who jagged were getting infected with that.that sorta stuff realy aint good for business so it cant be people in the supply chain so who is it?and another thing-iv never heard of this happening in other countrys,is the uk the only country that has suffered problems with biologically tainted gear?

[chinpokomaster]

SWIM definitely ain't slamming shit until all this hysteria disappears. He already has a load of crap (incidentally in red balloons) that he won't touch and that burns clear at first THEN goes red before burning into charcoal. Is this the stuff? Who knows? Fuck risking it, though.

[fnord]

Does anyone know what type of Clostridium this is?

[Spare Chaynge]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium
this explains it. Type a

http://web.mst.edu/~microbio/BIO221_2003/C_novyi.html

[calmurphy17]

When the drought was at its worst round swims way and ther was some of the red gear going round (it was known as vimto gear due to colour) everyone said it was really strong and some people prefered it and were holding out for more cos it really put them under if they shot it.idiots.

[Solinari]

Originally Posted by calmurphy17

When the drought was at its worst round swims way and ther was some of the red gear going round (it was known as vimto gear due to colour) everyone said it was really strong and some people prefered it and were holding out for more cos it really put them under if they shot it.idiots.

Oh aye, my fiend told me that too, it was suppose to literally knock them out, i forgot about that, i think that's why my fiend was warned in the first place because it was doing that to people.

Vimto is really red, so i imagine it would be fairly prominent, so i suppose that is a good thing so people can tell. I imagined it to be a bit more subtle than that, maybe a slight red tinge or something. Maybe this vimto shite has been mixed with some other shite (to get rid of it) and it's caused this other crystallising/solidifying shite as a result. Or was this "vimto" suppose to solidify anyway?

So fucking dodgy this shit, i don't understand how people can punt it knowing some people are going to stick it in their veins. My fiend is paranoid as it is when it comes to jagging, he doesn't know what it was, before he would jag as many bags as he could afford and handle it no bother. Then one day he had two bags and jagged one and a half of it and it felt like he injected speed or something, his heart raced and his face turned red, since then he has been rather paranoid.

[Panthers007]

Wouldn't boiling for 15 minutes kill the bacteria? Bacteria don't like being boiled.

[CandiGirl]

Boiling it for 15 minutes would boil away the smack content.... You don't really wanna boil it for too long... Literally long enough for the citric to dissolve the smack.

Cal.... The UK gets poor quality smack right now because there have been so many busts of the gear coming into the UK. Plus there are the effects of opium fields being burned down in Afghanistan. (Sounds like a conspiracy theory coming up, but think about it coz it makes sense)...There is a world morphine shortage.... Maybe the government is using what it seizes and putting it back into the medical industry? As to contaminating the gear... It could be happening on board ship... Rats could get at it and piss and crap all over it... Don't think it's quite done on purpose, SWIM does think the people who are getting the shit into the country are trying to double up the amount they get by cutting it with crap.... There's a rumour about Bupernorphine being used round our way.... SWIM thinks you're getting what SWIM was getting 2 weeks ago.... It was great... just didn't last long in an area of 2 cities wide. Then it was back to the opaquey shit that crystallizes if you don't use a shit load of cit....This stuff also had white bits mixed in with the powder, SWIMs dealer actually bigged this shit up.... It's been like it round here since June.... Now there's this stuff that when on foil drys all sticky and syrupy and has a very weird chemically taste to it...

SWIM can understand to a point cutting it with stuff that isn't going to harm someone (IE sugar, glucose etc)... but why cut it with another chemical that could kill the user? That's what scares SWIM.

Cal... when you say your puppy is getting the best gear... How long has your puppy used and what effects is your puppy getting from it? Whats the colour and consistency of the powder too? SWIMs area has had very light powder, sometimes with white bits and always the consistency of sand. Smack to SWIM has always been a very fine substance, when one gets a bit on ones finger it rubs away to nothing... this is rough to the touch.

[Solinari]

My fiend won't be injecting anything that has a light grey, red or red tinge colour, has shiny little spec's through it (which he noticed the first time he got the solidifying death muck) or doesn't burn right on the foil/tastes horrible or is just so nasty it can't be smoked. It will have to have a brown or 'fawn' colour and it better cook up on the spoon with the right amount of citric and leave very little to no residue what so ever, oh and then it will be given plenty of time to cool to see if there is even a hint of solidification.

If after all that the gear seems fine, then he will stick it in his vein and still worry about the fucking flesh eating death bug. The last 3 bags my fiend has got has met ALL the criteria and more, he couldn't ask for anything else.

So i would advise anyone that has no choice but to score ever day to put their foot down at the point of sale, or if it has to be accepted then smoke it. Unless of course it avoids all the above. For my fiend, he will be generally avoiding the scene anyway, as he has been doing for ages now, it's a giro thing for him and recently it's just been a bag or two anyway.

[thawker]

This is very hard for me... i have just been reading the on-line news regarding this god dam re heroin that seems to be never ending in leith and the possible, yet in my mind definite link with the Clostridium bacterium. I feel very numb and i supose in shock.

This story starts back in late June.

I have two friends (shall be named x and y)who live in Skye, only married the previous November. They have a long drug history but now only dabble. A friend of a friend sends them up a half teenth now and then. After one such occasion, three days to be precise. x dies suddenly in his sleep. Post-mortem reviles swollen heart.. drugs never were mentioned at all, only y knew that he took heroin three days before he died.

x is buried and y then receives a letter saying they, the doctors are going to continue the investigation as the had found this "Clostridium bacterium"[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/ADMINI%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG] that they think is related to cot death... the friend of a friend remembers that the heroin he sent up to Skye was this red shit..

Ifeel like I am stuck in a bubble with so many questions and were to ask them... have we all got this shit in us... did the heroin kill x...

I feel like a shit

[Mint boi]

Originally Posted by Panthers007

Wouldn't boiling for 15 minutes kill the bacteria? Bacteria don't like being boiled.

Clostridia are spore forming bacteria, boiling MAY not be a reliable way to kill them.
Unless one steams the heck out of their H.
Might be my overcautious nature, but I wouldnt let me ferret inject anything possibly infected, even after boiling.