Pubdate: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 Source: New Scientist (UK) Copyright: New Scientist, RBI Limited 2000 Contact: Reed Business Information Limited, 151 Wardour St, London W1V 4BN, England Fax: +44-20-7331 2777 Feedback: http://www.newscientist.com/letters/reply.jsp Website: http://www.newscientist.com/ Author: Debora MacKenzie DIRTY TRICKS Are soil bacteria behind a recent spate of heroin deaths? DRUG dealers who have deliberately cut heroin with a soil normally used in industry may be to blame for the wave of mystery deaths among British and Irish addicts, say infectious disease experts. Last week government scientists identified Clostridium novyi, a common soil bacterium, as a likely suspect in the hunt for the mystery killer of 30 heroin addicts in Britain. But it may not be the only culprit. A lethal cocktail of soil bacteria, including anthrax in one case, seems to have contaminated Europe's heroin, possibly because someone doctored the drug with earth. Scientists including Les King of Britain's Forensic Science Service and epidemiologist Martin Hugh-Jones of Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, suspect earth that is rich in oxygen-hating bacteria such as C. novyi and Bacillus may be to blame. These bacteria have been found in either victims or suspect heroin. King says looking at a heroin sample under a microscope could help settle the question. But, he says, no one routinely analyses heroin. For the sake of public health, "someone should survey the microorganisms and inorganic components in it". Cases of the mystery illness are still emerging. Last week there were five new victims in Scotland, six in England, and one in Dublin (see Graphic). All the heroin users injected into muscle and developed an abscess, then symptoms of toxic shock. Because the symptoms are so similar to anthrax, and a Norwegian addict died of the disease in April, scientists suspected that this infamous bacterium might be to blame for the Scottish cases as well (New Scientist, 20 May, p 4). However, tissue samples from the victims never revealed the large numbers of bacteria typical of anthrax infection. At a meeting in Glasgow last week, investigators said that the most probable culprit was C. novyi, which stays near the site of initial infection and whose toxins produce similar symptoms. Clostridium has been found in only nine victims in Glasgow, and three are confirmed as the species C. novyi. No Clostridium has been found in Irish victims, and the Eastern Regional Health Authority in Dublin says it is "keeping an open mind on the cause". The bacteria might have been missed in some cases because they are notoriously difficult to culture. But the important public health question, says King, might not be which bacteria killed addicts, but where they came from. C. novyi, the anthrax in Norway, and three additional species of Bacillus found in heroin samples linked to deaths in Glasgow are all anaerobic soil bacteria which lie dormant in earth in tough resistant spores. This suggests the heroin was contaminated with earth, says Hugh-Jones. He believes that "diatomaceous earth", a natural silica widely used in industry, could be to blame. The fact that this beige powder closely resembles heroin would possibly make it attractive to heroin dealers seeking to adulterate the drug. The earth is frequently dug from wet, oxygen-deprived environments where anaerobic bacteria like to live. There is often insoluble material in heroin, says King. The heroin behind the current outbreak was reported to be hard to dissolve. But no heroin analyses have yet been published by Norway, Britain or Ireland. Until a government agency takes responsibility for carrying out this kind of analysis, King fears, outbreaks like this will continue. Andria Efthimiou-Mordaunt, editor of The User's Voice, a Londonbased drug policy magazine, says: "Someone must take the initiative to start testing heroin." - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck