RSOE EDIS - Situation Update No. 9 : United Kingdom - Epidemic Hazard

RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service Budapest, Hungary RSOE EDIS ALERTMAIL

Situation Update No. 9 Posted:2009-12-17, 17:29:49 [UTC] Ref.no.: EH-20091217-24200-GBR Situation Update No. 9 On 2009-12-25 at 05:10:09 [UTC] Event: Epidemic Hazard Location: United Kingdom Scotland Glasgow Number of Deads: 3 person(s) Number of Infected: 1 person(s) Situation: Tests from a 4th patient have now confirmed the presence of Anthrax. Two of these 4 known confirmed cases have now died. A further heroin drug injector has died, but tests to determine the presence of anthrax have yet to be completed [Since this release was issued, this 5th case has been confirmed. - Mod.MHJ]. The 2 surviving confirmed anthrax-linked patients are responding well to treatment, one at Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary and one at Monklands District General Hospital in Lanarkshire. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's Public Health Protection Unit are continuing to work closely with NHS Lanarkshire, the Procurator Fiscal's Office, and Strathclyde Police to identify the source of the anthrax. One avenue which is still being investigated by Public Health and Strathclyde Police is that contaminated heroin or a contaminated cutting agent mixed with the heroin may be responsible for the infections. Dr Syed Ahmed, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, said: "There have been no new drug injecting heroin users with suspected or confirmed infections admitted to hospitals in the west of Scotland since the weekend. I urge all drug injecting heroin users to be extremely alert and to seek urgent medical advice if they experienced an infection. Drug injecting is extremely risky and dangerous. The possible presence of a batch of heroin contaminated with anthrax makes drug injecting even riskier and even more dangerous. While this section of the community need to be on their guard, the risk to the rest of the population -- including close family members of the infected cases -- is negligible. It is extremely rare for anthrax to be spread from person to person, and there is no significant risk of airborne transmission from one person to another." As part of ongoing inquiries, any drug-injecting heroin users who present with serious soft tissue infections now or who have presented such during the last 4 weeks are being investigated. Please DO NOT reply to this message: replies may be treated as errors and result in your subscription being deleted. If you have trouble or other queries, send email to havaria@rsoe.hu RSOE EDIS is operated by the National Association of Radio-Distress Signalling and Infocommunications (RSOE), Budapest, Hungary. Because of the complexity of this system and its dependence on other systems, we cannot be responsible for delays or failures in forwarding or transmission. You're receiving this AlertMail because you subscribed for the service. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Contact: havaria@rsoe.hu