Heroin Detox: (800) 315-2391   Heroin Rehabilitation: (888) 565-6401   Heroin Addiction Hotline: (800) 303-2482

Rare Bacterial Infection Anthrax and Contaminated Heroin

24 hour addiction treatment
Info iconWho Answers?

The low cost and increased availability of heroin throughout the United States is making it much easier for prescription drug users to switch to heroin now that prescription drugs aren't as easy to get anymore. There are so many people abusing painkillers and other prescription drugs today or that are addicted to them they're desperate to find an alternative drug that's similar to their drug of choice which are commonly pain pills. The effects a person receives when abusing Vicodin and other opiate medications are so similar to heroin's effects people are turning to the illegal drug to replace their habit with unfortunately.

Even though abusing prescription medications is dangerous and deadly, the heroin available today may be even worse. Anthrax is a very serious infectious disease that can infect a person's skin, gastrointestinal tract or lungs according to PubMed Health and recently has made headlines associated with heroin use.

A warning was put out in Scotland to heroin users because a patient was recently confirmed to have the anthrax bacteria according to dailyrecord.co.uk. They believe a contaminated batch of heroin is possibly circulating in Scotland associated with the patient's diagnosis. They also report that there have been other reports recently of anthrax related to contaminated heroin in Germany and other western European countries. This is scary because according to the report after coming into contact with anthrax it can take up to a week for the symptoms to develop.

Drug Free
Info iconWho Answers?
Close

Where do calls go?

Calls to numbers on a specific treatment center listing will be routed to that treatment center. Calls to any general helpline (non-facility specific 1-8XX numbers) could be forwarded to SAMHSA or a verified treatment provider. Calls are routed based on availability and geographic location.

The Heroin.org helpline is free, private, and confidential. There is no obligation to enter treatment. In some cases, Heroin.org could charge a small cost per call, to a licensed treatment center, a paid advertiser, this allows Heroin.org to offer free resources and information to those in need. We do not receive any commission or fee that is dependent upon which treatment provider a caller chooses.