In a Wednesday assertion, officers with the San Diego County Well being and Human Companies Company mentioned the seven individuals, who weren’t recognized, died of a bacterial an infection known as myonecrosis. The extreme “flesh-eating” gentle tissue an infection destroys muscle, in keeping with the assertion. Signs usually embody fever, elevated coronary heart fee, blisters with a foul-smelling discharge and pale pores and skin that rapidly turns grey, darkish pink, purple or black, amongst different indicators.
MAINE SEES FIRST FLU DEATH OF SEASON, STATE HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY
Between Oct. 2 and Nov. 24, 9 individuals — all of whom injected black tar heroin — had been admitted to varied hospitals within the county with extreme myonecrosis. 4 of the sufferers had been feminine, whereas 5 had been male. Their ages ranged from 19 to 57, mentioned officers.
Within the assertion, officers warned that illicit drug customers — particularly those that use black tar heroin — are at heightened threat of creating wound botulism, “a uncommon, however severe sickness that assaults the physique’s nerves.”
Indicators of wound botulism, which might mimic these of a drug overdose, usually embody weak or drooping eyelids, blurred imaginative and prescient, dry mouth, slurred speech, bother swallowing, issue respiratory and “progressive symmetric paralysis that begins on the face and head and travels down the physique,” in keeping with the assertion.
Between Oct. 2 and Nov. 24, 9 individuals — all of whom injected black tar heroin — had been admitted to varied hospitals within the county with extreme myonecrosis. 4 of the sufferers had been feminine, whereas 5 had been male. Their ages ranged from 19 to 57, mentioned officers.
(iStock)
MAN OVERCOMES DECADE-LONG HEROIN ADDICTION, REACHES MILLIONS WITH VIRAL BLOG POSTS
A minimum of one case of wound botulism related to black tar heroin use was confirmed in San Diego County in October, whereas a complete of 13 confirmed and possible circumstances have been reported in Southern California because the starting of September.
Black tar heroin, in keeping with the Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse, is a “sticky like roofing tar or onerous like coal and is predominantly produced in Mexico and bought in U.S. areas west of the Mississippi River.”
The darkish coloration of the illicit drug outcomes from “crude processing strategies that depart behind impurities,” it provides. Black tar heroin is often dissolved or diluted after which injected beneath the pores and skin, into muscle groups or veins.
The supply of the black tar heroin utilized by some individuals in San Diego is presently unknown, officers mentioned, noting an investigation into the matter is ongoing.
San Diego residents experiencing drug dependancy or a substance use dysfunction can name the county’s Entry and Disaster Line at (888) 724-7240.
Madeline Farber is a Reporter for Fox Information. You may comply with her on Twitter @MaddieFarberUDK.
Recent Comments