The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has warned people against travelling to Turkey for an injection known as stomach Botox to help them lose weight.
The treatment has been linked to dozens of cases of botulism associated with private clinics in Istanbul and Izmir.
Over the past three weeks 67 cases of poisoning linked to the intragastric injection of Botulinum toxin have been reported across Europe.
Symptoms have ranged from mild to severe with several people requiring hospital admission.
Botox is made from the same toxin that can cause botulism.
No known cases have been reported in Ireland so far.
Endocrinologist and obesity physician at St Vincent's Healthcare Group Dr Karl Neff has said the procedure is not a proven treatment for obesity.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said that this is a relatively new intervention, but it can be fatal and he warned people against undergoing this procedure.
Dr Neff explained how it worked.
"There are many different methods of attempting to treat obesity and in this method what they attempt to do is to paralyse the stomach. So, people know Botox is an agent that you'll use for aesthetic interventions where you basically relax muscles in the face and smooth out lines in the face.
"The stomach is a muscular bag and when it's normally working and we eat, it normally contracts and squeezes food, churns food and then pushes it into the intestine. The idea of intragastric, or gastric Botox is that you paralyse that muscle. So what happens is that the stomach does not contract, and therefore when you're eating, it feels more full, more quickly.
"That's the theory, but as I said, this is not a proven treatment, and it is not something that would be recommended. It's not something that's offered in Ireland, in the public sector."
He said that a lot of the popularity of treatments for obesity is driven by sharing information online or things that are advertised online, "which can sometimes be misleading".
"And certainly people should exercise extreme caution when looking at any of these interventions. I would always say to people if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. And if you go to any clinic for any of these interventions and are telling you all good sides and no bad sides, then they're not telling you the whole story."
Dr Neff said that the ECDC has noticed a spike in cases of botulinum toxin poisoning.
He said this can sometimes be foodborne, which is why the ECDC is reporting on it.
"However, in this case it's clear that it's linked to clinics that are offering this gastric Botox intervention.
"So, the presumption, and this is not known yet, is that either the batch of Botox that was being used in this clinic was either too potent or that it was of the normal potency and was used in too high a dose in the procedure and therefore was resulting in toxicity."
He warned against having the procedure carried out as "it can be fatal".
Dr Neff said as it paralyses muscle, it can paralyse the respiratory muscles.
"And you stop breathing. So in the most severe cases, people would need to go on a ventilator to support their breathing. And if they did not have access to a ventilator, they would die.
"It can be fatal. Not in most cases. In most cases there's more single nerves being affected or less vital nerves being affected, and it might be paralysis of say the limbs or facial or throat muscles, but it can be fatal. It is dangerous."
