Chicago Tribune
More than 70 people have overdosed from dangerous batches of narcotics -- apparently heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl -- on the West Side since Tuesday, according to city health and fire officials. Emergency crews have responded to 74 cases over 72 hours, according to Larry Langford, spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department. "It’s up significantly," he said.
An alert from the Chicago Department of Public Health and obtained by Chicago Tribune said the drugs were bought at two locations on the West Side. A sample of heroin recovered by Chicago police may have contained fentanyl, authorities said.
Police are looking into whether a man who died of an apparent drug overdose in the East Garfield Park neighborhood had ingested narcotics from the dangerous batch, according to law enforcement sources.
The victim was found dead in a third-floor apartment Thursday night in the 3300 block of West Ohio Street. His identity was not available.
Chicago police and federal investigators turned their attention to fentanyl in the mid-2000s when dozens of people died of overdoses, which included cases of fentanyl mixed with other drugs.
Dr. Steven Aks, chief of toxicology and an emergency physician at Stroger Hospital, said he’s aware of nine patients who sought treatment by the Thursday afternoon at the hospital.
He did not know what drug caused the overdoses.
Paramedics and other Fire Department personnel have been equipped with extra Narcan -- a drug typically used to reverse heroin overdoses -- for any additional victims, according to Langford.
“We don’t know if it’s the beginning, middle or end of the surge,” he said.
cont: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-west-side-overdoses-20151001-story.html
More than 70 people have overdosed from dangerous batches of narcotics -- apparently heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl -- on the West Side since Tuesday, according to city health and fire officials. Emergency crews have responded to 74 cases over 72 hours, according to Larry Langford, spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department. "It’s up significantly," he said.
An alert from the Chicago Department of Public Health and obtained by Chicago Tribune said the drugs were bought at two locations on the West Side. A sample of heroin recovered by Chicago police may have contained fentanyl, authorities said.
Police are looking into whether a man who died of an apparent drug overdose in the East Garfield Park neighborhood had ingested narcotics from the dangerous batch, according to law enforcement sources.
The victim was found dead in a third-floor apartment Thursday night in the 3300 block of West Ohio Street. His identity was not available.
Chicago police and federal investigators turned their attention to fentanyl in the mid-2000s when dozens of people died of overdoses, which included cases of fentanyl mixed with other drugs.
Dr. Steven Aks, chief of toxicology and an emergency physician at Stroger Hospital, said he’s aware of nine patients who sought treatment by the Thursday afternoon at the hospital.
He did not know what drug caused the overdoses.
Paramedics and other Fire Department personnel have been equipped with extra Narcan -- a drug typically used to reverse heroin overdoses -- for any additional victims, according to Langford.
“We don’t know if it’s the beginning, middle or end of the surge,” he said.
cont: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-west-side-overdoses-20151001-story.html
