Santa Clara County officials confirm first xylazine related death

SAN JOSE —  Authorities on Monday confirmed the first death in Santa Clara County attributed to a dangerous animal tranquilizer that is increasingly mixed with opioids like fentanyl and heroin.

A 36-year-old man who was found unresponsive in San Jose and died in late February tested positive for xylazine in postmortem testing, county officials said.

The veterinary tranquilizer has been linked to an increasing number of deadly overdoses and serious wounds in cases across the country.

“This tragic event is an important alert to the community that xylazine is now present in drugs in Santa Clara County,” said Dr. Michelle Jorden, the county’s chief medical examiner. “The last thing I want is to see more deaths due to xylazine here, but sadly, the experience of the rest of the country indicates there may be more to come.”

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has issued a health alert about the alarming uptick in trafficking of fentanyl mixed with the drug.

Just last month, San Francisco public health officials revealed that xylazine had been discovered in the bloodstreams of four fatal fentanyl overdose victims in the city.

While xylazine has been circulating in the illicit drug supply on the East Coast for several years, health officials said it was the first time its presence has been detected in San Francisco.

“Identifying xylazine in San Francisco is concerning,” health officials said in a news release. “To date, SFDPH has not received any reports of skin wounds associated with xylazine, nor xylazine intoxication or withdrawal.”

“Community members need to be even more vigilant with how and what they are using, with xylazine now in Santa Clara County,” Dr. Tiffany Ho, Medical Director of the County Behavioral Health Services Department added.

Xylazine, colloquially known as “Tranq,” is a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer that is not FDA-approved for human use. It is commonly mixed with fentanyl, heroin and other illicit drugs.

It can cause excessive sleepiness and respiratory depression symptoms that appear similar to those associated with opioid use, making it difficult distinguish opioid overdoses from xylazine exposure. 

Xylazine can be smoked, snorted or injected. It causes severe skin ulcerations that spread and worsen quickly. Repeated xylazine injection has also been associated with severe, necrotic skin lesions often requiring advanced wound care. These wounds may occur in areas of the body away from the injection site.    

Anyone seeking treatment for substance use can contact their primary care doctor or phone the County of Santa Clara Behavioral Health Services Call Center at 1-800-704-0900, 24 hours a day, for services in English, Vietnamese, Spanish, Tagalog, and Mandarin.