In recent weeks, 28 people in the north-east of England have been left with potentially fatal botulism after having anti-wrinkle injections believed to have been fake. Such reactions are usually so rare hospitals stock very little anti-toxin and they were in danger of running out.
On one night in June, five people were in an accident and emergency department (A&E) in Durham suffering from serious adverse effects of anti-wrinkle injections - Nicola Fairley was one of them.
Within days of having what she was told was a Botox jab, but which turned out to be an illegal copy, her throat began closing up, an eye swelled shut and one side of her face started to droop. She could not smile, struggled to eat and swallow, felt exhausted and was desperate to sleep.
The 37-year-old mother of four from Bishop Auckland in County Durham told staff she had been given injections and was unwell.
"They got the doctor to see me within five minutes and started some tests there and then," Mrs Fairley recalls.
