GEORGIA, United States – 2017: In June 2017, the Georgia Poison Center detected and triggered a comprehensive response to overdose events involving the new fentanyl analogue cyclopropyl fentanyl. In response to a hospital report of patients with alarming respiratory and central nervous system symptoms, the Georgia Poison Center reviewed poison cases, called hospitals and spoke to Government experts, finding out that there had been other reports of similar cases within the State. Georgia Poison Center then notified the Georgia Department of Public Heath (GDPH), the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) crime laboratory, the Department of Justice, the Attorney General’s office, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and other state and local officials to inform them of this new threat.

As criminal investigations and laboratory tests were underway, the State Health Commissioner’s office disseminated an alert to every hospital in Georgia. Laboratory analysis of the tablets used in these drug overdose cases in Georgia revealed that they contained two fentanyl analogues: U-47700 and cyclopropyl fentanyl.

For more information, please see:

Article on the “June 2017 Deadly Novel Synthetic Opioid Exposure Outbreak in Georgia – A Case Study in the Crucial Surveillance Role of Regional Poison Control Centers”
http://www.georgiapoisoncenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/June-2017-Deadly-Novel-Synthetic-Opioid-Exposure-Outbreak-in-Georgia_FIN....pdf

Statement of the United States Department of Public Health on “Opioid overdose in Georgia”
https://www.gafp.org/opiod-overdose-georgia/