By Friday afternoon, 14 people had been rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago in the previous 24 hours to be treated for heroin overdoses, some with the needles still stuck in their arm, according to hospital officials. 
 
 In all, nearly 75 people have overdosed in Chicago since Tuesday afternoon from dangerous batches of narcotics, possibly heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl, according to city health and fire officials. Police were investigating if at least one recent death was caused by a heroin overdose. 
 
 "We suspect what is happening is the same thing that happened in 2006 when people were getting heroin that was cut with fentanyl, which is a very strong narcotic," said Diane Hincks, a registered nurse and emergency room director at Mount Sinai on the West Side. "That's what we think is happening." 
 
 By early Friday afternoon, emergency crews had responded to 74 cases over 72 hours, more than double the same three-day period last year, said Larry Langford, spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department. 
 
 Hincks said some of the 14 overdose victims treated at Mount Sinai had collapsed as soon as they injected themselves. The hospital typically sees two or three overdoses a day, she said. 
 
 Two of Mount Sinai's patients were in intensive care, another was still undergoing treatment, seven had been discharged and a few more were still in the emergency room as of about 3 p.m, Hincks said. 
 
 Chicago police said the drugs were purchased primarily at two locations on the West Side, one of them in the North Lawndale community. A sample of heroin recovered by police may have contained fentanyl, authorities said. 
 
 The Drug Enforcement Administration is working with Chicago police to try to find the source of the dangerous batches of drugs. 
 
 At City Council budget hearings Friday afternoon, Chief Mary Sheridan, head of the Fire Department's emergency medical services division, said all the recent overdose victims were stabilized with a single dose of Narcan, a heroin antidote carried by Chicago paramedics, and then transported safely to hospitals. But fire officials said the victims required additional doses of Narcan after arriving at hospitals. 
 
 "They're taking double and triple the doses of Narcan in order to bring them out of their stupor," Hincks told the Tribune. 
 
 Paramedics and other Fire Department personnel were given extra Narcan for their medical runs, officials said. 
 
 Chicago police, meanwhile, are looking into whether a 49-year-old man who died of an apparent drug overdose in the West Side's East Garfield Park neighborhood had ingested narcotics from one of the dangerous batches, according to law enforcement sources. 
 
 Heroin overdoses are spiking in Chicago. Authorities think the illegal drug may be spiked with something. Oct. 2, 2015. (CBS Chicago) Heroin overdoses are spiking in Chicago. Authorities think the illegal drug may be spiked with something. Oct. 2, 2015. (CBS Chicago) SEE MORE VIDEOS 
 
 The victim was found dead in a third-floor apartment Thursday night in the 3300 block of West Ohio Street, police said. An autopsy on the victim Friday was inconclusive, pending toxicology studies that could take up to eight weeks to complete, according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office. 
 
 The Chicago Recovery Alliance, which helps drug users, trains the public in overdose prevention, provides HIV testing and conducts needle exchanges, urged caution. 
 
 "The best thing would be to have (Narcan)," said Dan Bigg, the group's director. "And watch each other's backs." 
 
 Fentanyl-laced heroin has been causing overdoses across the nation. The DEA issued a nationwide health alert in March. 
 
 Dr. Steven Aks, chief toxicologist at Stroger Hospital and an emergency physician, said fentanyl is used for especially painful surgical procedures. 
 
 The powerful synthetic painkiller adds a potent kick to heroin, making it attractive to suppliers seeking an edge with customers. 
 
 The last major outbreak of fentanyl-related deaths took place between 2005 and 2007, killing more than 1,000 people across the country. Dozens in the Chicago area died of overdoses, including from fentanyl mixed with other drugs. 
 
 Hincks recalled how busy Mount Sinai's emergency room was for a few weeks in 2006, when she was a charge nurse, because of the fentanyl-laced heroin. 
 
 "I remember how crazy it was," she said. "It got to the point it was just full. We had everyone lined up in the halls on carts. ... It was very busy." 
 
 Cristina Villarreal, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Public Health, said that by 8:30 a.m. Friday more than 20 people had been treated for heroin overdoses. Villarreal said the department was awaiting lab results to confirm if the heroin was laced with fentanyl. 
 
 "We are working closely to ensure that area hospitals are tracking individuals affected and are maintaining a necessary stock of medication supplies — including Narcan," Villarreal said in an email. 
 
 John Callahan, coroner of Grundy County, said his office has seen three heroin-related deaths in the Morris and Coal City areas this year — but all of them came in August. 
 
 He said he had been contacted by the DEA about two weeks ago. 
 
 "They're trying to trace back where this potent heroin came from," Callahan said. "The way I understand it, there's a bad batch.'' 
 
 Heroin overdose deaths have been on the rise statewide since 2011, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Last year, 633 heroin overdose deaths occurred in Illinois, up from 583 in 2013. In Cook County, heroin overdose deaths remained largely unchanged last year at 283, down eight from 2013. 
 
 A recent Roosevelt University report concluded that the Chicago area is racking up more heroin-related emergency room visits than any other metro area in the country. Compounding the problem was that state-funded drug treatment had dried up, the report found. 
 
 Illinois' heroin crisis has drawn increasing attention from government officials in recent years, and lawmakers have proposed numerous measures aimed at attacking the problem. 
 
 Chicago Tribune's John Byrne and The Washington Post contributed. 
 
 jgorner@tribpub.com 
 
 pnickeas@tribpub.com 
 
 rsobol@tribpub.com ||||| The number of overdose cases on Chicago's West Side has jumped from more than 20 in 24 hours to more than 70 within 72 hours. 
 
 Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said there has been 74 overdoses in the past 72 hours, noting that the number is more than double the rate of overdoses the city saw at this time last year. 
 
 Chicago authorities said Thursday they were investigating what's behind the spike. 
 
 A Chicago Department of Public Health alert obtained by the Tribune reported more than 20 people had overdosed in the neighborhood in just 24 hours. 
 
 Police recovered a sample that may have been heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl purchased at two West Side locations. Langford said it was not clear how much fentanyl had been added to the heroin batches. 
 
 Chicago Police News Affairs on Friday said that 23 overdoses were reported in 24 hours, but no one had died as of Friday afternoon. 
 
 Police said multiple law enforcement agencies were working "to identify the source of the extremely strong batch of heroin." 
 
 The painkiller was in the spotlight in the in the mid-2000s when dozens of people died from fentanyl-related overdoses. ||||| (CNN) The American heroin epidemic has become more dangerous, as reports of heroin laced with carfentanil are being reported throughout the country. 
 
 Carfentanil is the most potent opioid used commercially, 10,000 times stronger than morphine. It is a version or analogue of fentanyl, the painkiller that most recently made headlines with its role in the death of pop star Prince 
 
 Carfentanil can slow breathing significantly. It's not approved for human use but is used commercially to sedate large animals, such as elephants. About 2 milligrams can knock out a nearly 2,000-pound African elephant. 
 
 Many users may not know they are even taking the drug, officials have said, as dealers are cutting heroin with fentanyl analogues to give it a boost and stretch their supply. 
 
 Its potency is deadly, and it's causing concern for those fighting the heroin epidemic, as recent overdose outbreaks in Ohio, Indiana and Florida have been linked to the drug. 
 
 Public health warnings 
 
 In July, officials in Hamilton County, Ohio, issued a public health warning (PDF) after seeing 35 overdoses, including six deaths, in a three-day period. 
 
 On Wednesday, authorities reported a spike in heroin overdoses, with 36 reports of overdoses and two deaths. According to CNN affiliate WCPO in Cincinnati , one of the deaths was a man described as being in his 30s who died in the parking lot of a Rally's Hamburgers. 
 
 Police told WCPO that it appeared more than one dealer was involved in distributing the potent mix. Hamilton County Heroin Task Force Director Tom Synan added that almost all the recent overdoses are in the same area on the west side of Cincinnati, leading officials to suspect it's all the same batch. Cincinnati is in Hamilton County. 
 
 Synan said the county has seen close to 90 heroin overdoses since this weekend. 
 
 Hamilton County usually sees about 25 overdoses in an average week, so these numbers represent a huge increase. 
 
 "We do not know for sure, but we suspect the heroin is laced with carfentanil," says Synan 
 
 In Indiana, near the border with Ohio, there were 12 heroin overdoses and one death during the same time period on Tuesday, according to Seymour Police Chief Bill Abbott. A 52-year-old Jennings County woman died as a result of an overdose, Indiana State Police Sgt. Stephen Wheeles said. 
 
 All of the overdoses required the use of naloxone, Wheeles said, and some of those revived with the drug were as young as 16. 
 
 "Due to Tuesday's overdoses, our troopers and deputies with the Jennings County Sheriff's Department continually ran out of the drug and had to restock from the EMS personnel, hospital and the remaining doses we had at our post," Wheeles said. 
 
 It is not clear whether the Indiana and Ohio overdoses are connected, but officials are investigating the possibility. 
 
 This month, a seizure of carfentanil in Manatee County, Florida, coincided with an increase in overdose deaths there. 
 
 Little data to track the drug 
 
 Join the conversation See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter. 
 
 The Drug Enforcement Administration does not track carfentanil cases separately. Most states flag a handful of fentanyl analogues in postmortem testing, but very few labs across the country are equipped to test for it or have any reference materials to help identify it. The University of Florida Forensic Toxicology Lab is currently developing a new test to identify the drug. 
 
 Like fentanyl, carfentanil is dangerous not just to users but to anyone who comes into contact with it. Grains of it can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled. 
 
 According to the DEA, most fentanyl analogues in the United States are being manufactured in China and transported through Mexico.
– Chicago authorities are scrambling after 74 heroin overdoses were reported in the 72 hours between Tuesday and Friday afternoon, more than double the overdose rate during the same time last year, NBC Chicago reports. Police suspect an "extremely strong batch of heroin" that's been laced the powerful painkiller fentanyl. They are currently hunting for the source of the drug, which appears to have been sold at two locations on the city's West Side. "We suspect what is happening is the same thing that happened in 2006," Mount Sinai emergency room director Diane Hincks tells the Chicago Tribune. Between 2005 and 2007, more than 1,000 people around the country died from fentanyl-laced heroin. The Tribune reports there have been no deaths during the rash of overdoses this week that can be definitively traced to heroin laced with fentanyl, though authorities are waiting on toxicology reports from a 49-year-old man who died of an apparent overdose Thursday. Hospitals are supplying paramedics with extra doses of Narcan, a heroin antidote, due to the strength of the current batch. "They're taking double and triple the doses of Narcan in order to bring them out of their stupor," Hincks tells the Tribune. The DEA issued a nationwide warning about fentanyl-laced heroin in March. A recent study show Chicago has more heroin-related ER visits than any other US city.