The Health Services Executive has confirmed that there has been 17 suspected overdoses involving nitazene in Cork city over the past 12 days.
There was an initial cluster of 12 nitazene-related overdoses between Wednesday, 8 December and Tuesday 12 December, with a further five cases up to last Friday.
The HSE warned this evening that there remains an extra risk at this time from the synthetic opioid.
"It strongly recommends people do not try new types of drugs or new batches being sold on the marked", a spokesperson said.
"It could be sold as a powder or as heroin without people knowing.
The HSE said given 'this concerning rise in opioid overdoses in Cork city and the risks posed by nitazene type substances", it is keeping in touch with the emergency services, hospital emergency departments, homeless services, gardaí, and laboratories at the National Drug Treatment Centre and Forensic Science Ireland to monitor the situation closely.
