Doctors on alert after drug users almost die from rare condition linked with cocaine

Published on Saturday 7 February 2009 18:32

DOCTORS were put on alert last night after two Scottish cocaine users nearly died from a rare condition linked with the drug.

Medics were told to keep an eye out for methaemoglobinaemia, which can cause seizures, coma and death, after two cases were recorded in the Glasgow area.

Two cocaine users were last night said to be "very lucky" to be alive after developing the condition, the first in the UK to do so because of the drug. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde yesterday said the two individuals, who have not been named, had fallen ill within a five-week period.

Eleanor Anderson, the organisation's consultant in public health, said: "We are uncertain as to the causes of methaemoglobinaemia in these two cases and our investigations are ongoing, but it may be related to the consumption of an unusually large quantity of cocaine, or the presence of an unknown agent in the cocaine.

"Apart from the fact that the cases are so rare, what is also of concern is that both cases occurred over a short period and both were in the Glasgow area.

"Both patients have recovered and have been discharged, but they were very lucky – so serious is this condition that they may well have not survived."

Methaemoglobinaemia occurs when an increased quantity of the iron of haemoglobin is oxidised to the ferric form, creating a lack of oxygen in the blood.

Symptoms include blue lips, headache, abnormal heart rate, breathlessness, fatigue, exercise intolerance, dizziness, loss of consciousness, seizures and in severe cases coma and death.

Anderson said any cocaine users who suffer such symptoms should seek urgent medical attention.

More than 400 people were treated in Scottish hospitals last year for cocaine abuse, up from just 40 in 2000, according to official figures.

Research last year from the European Union's drug agency found that 15% of Scots aged 16 to 34 had used cocaine – three times the European average.