05 february 2010 confirmed case of anthrax
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8/14/2019 05 February 2010 Confirmed Case of Anthrax
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05 February 2010
CONFIRMED CASE OF ANTHRAX I NFECTION I N AN I NJECTING DRUG USER IN ENGLAND.
Broadcast content:
To: Directors of Public Health of PCTs to forward to:
All general practitioners - and all practice nurses and non-principals and for the `locum informationpack'
Primary Care Medical Advisers Medical Directors in all NHS Trusts (including ambulance trusts)
Staff in Accident and Emergency departments, Intensive care units, high dependency units and Trustmicrobiologists.
Coroners offices.
It is also advised that where possible this alert and the attached information is cascaded to: Servicesdealing with drug misuse, and services for drug misusers run by voluntary or other agencies.
CONFIRMED CASE OF ANTHRAX I NFECTION I N AN I NJECTING DRUG USER IN ENGLAND
It has been confirmed that an injecting drug user in London has contracted Anthrax. This case follows therecent outbreak amongst Scottish heroin users of whom 19 have been confirmed as contracting anthrax with 9
of these patients dying.
Investigations are continuing into the cause of these cases and into any heroin supply routes that may beaffected.
You should be alert to the possibility of anthrax infection in injecting drug users presenting with severe softtissue infections or sepsis. For IDU patients who present at their GP or A&E with these symptoms, pleasecontact your local microbiologist for advice on management and investigation. Other services dealing withdrug misusers should refer any IDUs with the above symptoms to an A&E department or to a GP for urgentassessment and management.
As there is also a potential theoretical risk of inhalation anthrax developing in heroin users who smoke orinhale anthrax-contaminated heroin, any such patients presenting with some or all of its typical features(febrile illness, sepsis and/or respiratory problems) should be dealt with in the same way. Patients may alsopresent with signs of meningitis(particularly haemorrhagic meningitis), or of subarachnoidhaemorrhage/intracranial bleed.
Person to person infection is extremely rare.
Please notify any cases of severe soft tissue infection or sepsis in an IDU patient, who has died or has beensufficiently unwell to require admission to hospital, to your local Health Protection Unit.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) website has produced algorithms for the clinical evaluation andmanagement of drug users with possible anthrax infections and has provided advice for drug users at riskwhich can be found at the following weblink:http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&Page&HPAwebAutoListName/Page/1191942145757For further information please contact John McCracken, 0207 972 4581,[email protected]
http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&Page&HPAwebAutoListName/Page/1191942145757mailto:[email protected]_mailto:[email protected]_http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&Page&HPAwebAutoListName/Page/1191942145757