FIVE MORE ADDICTS DIE

THE mystery illness which has claimed the lives of 15 drug addicts in
Glasgow has killed five people in the North West, health officials said
yesterday.

Two heroin users in Liverpool and three in Manchester have died in the last
month, bringing the death toll to 35 in Britain and Ireland. The NHS
Executive North West said it had identified nine cases in the two cities
over the past month.

It confirmed the new cases were being linked to the deaths in Scotland,
eight in Dublin, and seven in other parts of England. The illness is linked
to heroin that is injected into muscle or other tissue, rather than into a
vein.