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…
