Bath Salt aka Zombie

According to Forbes, the recent Miami zombie cannibal attack was caused by bath salts; according to Weekly World News, these bath salts are also the cause of many recent flesh-eating bacteria outbreaks, as described in the story below.

First, from Forbes:

The concern over synthetic drugs has come to a head in recent months, according to experts, and evidenced by events in Miami last weekend. On Saturday, Rudy Eugene was fatally shot by police for gruesomely and repeatedly biting into another man’s face. President of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police Armando Aguilar believes that bath salts, a synthetic drug, is an underlying culprit in Eugene’s disturbing attack.

Bath salts are highly addictive and apparently elicit intense cravings similar to methamphetamines. They act on the brain like other stimulants, and are sometimes referred to as a “cocaine substitutes.” Also known as “White Rush, Cloud Nine, Ivory Wave, Ocean Snow, Charge Plus, White Lightning, Scarface, Hurricane Charlie, Red Dove, White Dove, and Sextasy,” their most common side effects are agitation, fast heart rate, and hallucinations and delusions, seizures, high blood pressure, and paranoia, according to the CDC. Deaths have also been linked to the drug.

www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2012/05/30/synthetic-drug-bath-sa...

The use of street drugs known as “bath salts” are the source of an outbreak of a rare flesh-eating disease.

Numerous cases of necrotizing fasciitis caused by an intramuscular injection of bath salts are being reported across the United States.

So-called “bath salts” are sold as synthetic powders that “often contain various amphetamine-like chemicals,” according to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, which warned that injections can cause the ravaging skin condition.

It was first noticed when  doctors in New Orleans treated a 34-year-old woman who developed forearm pain and redness after she attended a party. She didn’t have any other symptoms but did have a small red puncture wound on her arm. The woman eventually admitted that she injected bath salts two days before her symptoms began.

The doctors reexamined her and determined that she had necrotizing fasciitis. The disease progressed so rapidly that the doctors had to amputate the woman’s arm, shoulder and collarbone and perform a radical mastectomy.