A NORTH-East man who is believed to be the victim of a contaminated batch of heroin was "seriously unwell" last night.

Health chiefs are concerned about the circulation of the tainted drug as the County Durham man's illness follows a number of other incidents around the country.

The Northern Echo understands the man is being treated in hospital in Sunderland.

He most recently lived in Durham City and has links with the Easington area of the county, although he was not being named last night.

A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington Health Authority said: "There does appear to be some kind of contamination in the heroin that is out there.

"There have been cases elsewhere in the country in the past few months."

The infection starts in the muscles and gets worse over a few days until those affected develop blood-poisoning and become very unwell.

It particularly affects people who inject heroin into skin or muscle, rather than the veins