AS investigations continue into the possibility that anthrax bacteria is killing needle-using heroin addicts in Strathclyde, a new fatality last night brought the death toll to 11.
The man lost his fight against massive infection and organ failure in Glasgow's Stobhill Hospital. There are still 15 people seriously ill in hospital with the condition.
His death comes as public health officials stated they were considering anthrax poisoning as part of their investigations.
However, if anthrax is found to be the cause, the situation should not cause unnecessary alarm amongst the general population, a leading expert on infection has said.
Professor Hugh Pennington, of Aberdeen University, believes the deadly bacteria, known best as a potential biological warfare agent, is unlikely to spread into non-drug injecting communities.
Professor Pennington said anthrax was a naturally occurring bacterium found in animals such as horses, pigs, camels, sheep and goats - but was highly lethal to humans.
The scientist added: ''Traditionally, anthrax is an occupational disease acquired from handling infected hides which then enters the body through skin lesions.''
It is thought that quantities of heroin smuggled from the Middle East may have been contaminated with the deadly bacteria.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article