Opioid crisis sweeps through Middle Ga.

At least 4 die, another two dozen hospitalized over a 48-hour period.

The call came in late Monday to the Georgia Poison Center: A Macon hospital had admitted five members of the same family supposedly for drug overdoses.

By Tuesday afternoon, reports had rolled in from area hospitals that at least four people had died and another two dozen were hospitalized over a period of just 48 hours in a wave of drug overdoses across middle Georgia and the Albany area. It’s an alarming number that law enforcement and health officials worry may grow in the days ahead.

“This is something we’ve been fearing,” said Dr. Patrick O’Neal, director of Health Protection for the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Just two weeks ago, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had issued a bulletin about synthetic drugs being passed off as opioids.

“This should be a warning,”

said GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles. “This is a situation that could continue to evolve.”

Navicent Health in Macon was first to report the overdoses. Then over the following hours, state workers found the same thing was happening at hospitals in Centerville, Warner Robins and Perry, all in neighboring Houston County, and in Albany.

The people are believed to have overdosed after taking one or two “yellow pills” bought on the street, which they had believed were the pain medication Percocet.

“There is a new drug that’s surfaced in our community,” Chris Hendry, chief medical officer at Navicent, said at a news conference Tuesday.

O’Neal said this is the first time health officials have seen a cluster like the one in middle Georgia.

Dr. Gaylord Lopez, director of the Georgia Poison Center, said he was called about the Macon cluster around 10 p.m. Monday and soon calls went out to surrounding hospitals to see if there were others.

“We had a bad feeling,” Lopez said, starting with the second call to a Houston County hospital that reported it too had seen overdose cases like the ones in Macon. “We have a major problem in central Georgia around pills that have been ingested.”

The victims range in age from their 20s to theirs 60s, Lopez said.

In addition to the four who died, emergency workers found others unconscious or not breathing, Lopez said. Some had to be put on ventilators.

“This could be a growing problem,” Lopez said.

A rising tide of opioid addiction has been feeding an escalating public health crisis nationally and in Georgia.

According to the GBI, not only is the use of opioids reaching dangerous levels, but law enforcement are seeing synthetic opioids and “transdermal drugs,” which pose a danger also to police or emergency workers who touch them. Miles said the GBI has warned local law enforcement officers to wear gloves and protective gear when handling pills.

Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50. In Georgia, they killed about 1,000 people a year between 2006 and 2014, according to a recent analysis.

Toxicology reports are not back yet on what the drug is that’s causing the current outbreak of overdoses in Middle Georgia.

Lopez said screens conducted on the patients have been negative for opioids, which he said is common if the drug they used is synthetic. There will be more extensive testing to determine what was in the pills.

It’s possible the drug could be a homemade compound using the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, which has been linked to overdose deaths across the nation, law enforcement officials said.

The GBI does not yet know what the drug is, but pills on the street are often laced with many other drugs, Miles said.

In a statement, the Georgia Department of Public Health called the unidentified substance “extremely potent.”

Public health officials also warned that while overdose reports have so far been limited to Middle and South Georgia, the drugs may also be sold on the streets in other parts of the state.

Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said law enforcement is following leads but didn’t have any suspects as of early Tuesday afternoon. He urged people with knowledge of who is selling the drugs to come forward.

“We need to know who’s putting this poison in our community right now,” Davis said, adding that people need to look out for their neighbors and call 911 if they see anyone who might be overdosing.

“This is very unusual for Middle Georgia,” said Hendry with Navicent. “We’ve never seen this number of overdoses in such a short time like this.”

Patients are being treated with “massive doses” of Narcan, a drug that can reverse overdoses, and fluids, as well as being put on ventilators in some cases until they can breathe on their own again, Hendry said.

He warned residents not to take any medications other than those prescribed by a physician or obtained at a pharmacy.

“Right now, the most important thing is for the community to be aware this is out there,” he said. It is dangerous to their health, and it can be lethal.