Well, according to this story from Italy, we've had the first reports of anthrax-tainted heroin.

I predicted something like this but I expected it to show up in powdered cocaine, which is generally ingested through the nose.

This is kind of a weird story on a couple levels. There's no percentage in the Taliban adulterating the heroin, because it would damage the market for what is just about the only export commodity that they have to offer. Also, assuming that this is the kind that one shoots up, it's not clear to me that injecting anthrax would cause an infection, or what kind it would cause.

I'm wondering if this is either a mistake, or a psywar lie, to both reduce drug use and to cut off one of the sources of the Taliban money supply.

Don't worry to much about the anthrax in heroin story. I been around for some time. The cause is likly natural. Anthrax spores got blown there during manufacture.

ta

Ralph

B. anthracis spores injected into the bloodstream would definitely cause a life threatening infection, and at much lower levels than the other routes of entry. Any microrganism that is present in the bloodstream of a human is potentially fatal (to a first approximation. Sepsis (also sometimes called septicemia or bacteremia) caused by many different types of microbe is a very common cause of death in hospitals, and in the elderly. There would be some question, however, as to whether the spores would survive. About this I know absolutely nothing.