ANTHRAX is now a prime suspect in a spate of deaths among heroin addicts in
Europe. Tests at Britain’s lab for dangerous pathogens at Porton Down have found
signs of anthrax infection in two Scottish victims. Nine more Scots are ill, and
doctors fear the disease—which is hard to monitor among drug
users—may be far more widespread.
“Heroin can contain almost anything in small amounts,” says Les King of the
Forensic Science Service, which analyses seized heroin in Britain. But no one
checks it for infectious agents, he notes. “There could be a long history of
this, and…
