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Ninth Anthrax death confirmed
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29 January 2010
A ninth heroin user has died in the anthrax outbreak in Scotland, Health Protection Scotland (HPS) has announced today (29th January 2010).
Laboratory results have confirmed a case of anthrax infection in a heroin user in the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde area who died on 12 December 2009 - making it the first death in the outbreak.
HPS says that due to the complexity of the various methods of testing for anthrax it has only been possible to confirm the presence of anthrax infection now.
It is important to note that there is no evidence of person to person transmission in this outbreak, says HPS.
This total number of confirmed anthrax cases in Scotland now stands at 18, with cases in six Health Board areas in Scotland.
Six of the nine fatalities have been in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board areas, with one in NHS Forth Valley and two in NHS Tayside.
For further information and to view today's HPS press release, please see the HPS anthrax microsite
www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/anthrax.