Explainer: You will not overdose on fentanyl simply by unintentionally touching it

Frightening reviews of fentanyl poisoning resulting from easy publicity to the substance have reinvigorated the doubtful concept that a mere brush with the drug is sufficient to trigger an overdose.

There have been a number of cases of individuals blaming pores and skin contact with the extremely potent opioid for extreme reactions, however toxicologists say that such overdoses are unlikely or unimaginable.

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Essentially the most current story entails a Kentucky girl, Renee Parsons, who picked up a $1 invoice off the ground in a McDonald’s in Nashville, Tennessee, and, she mentioned, instantly started to slur her speech, really feel her physique go numb, and lose consciousness.

“The police officer that got here to take our report advised us it was considered one of two issues: Both the greenback invoice was unintentionally dropped and it had been used to chop and or retailer the medicine, or it was purposely left with medicine on it,” Parsons mentioned.

However toxicology consultants are skeptical about Parsons’s concept that touching a invoice laced with fentanyl brought about a direct response.

“I believe it's actually unlikely the substance this woman obtained into her system is fentanyl based mostly on the signs she had,” Dr. Rebecca Donald, a fentanyl professional at Vanderbilt College Medical Middle, advised WSMV News. “It's more likely for her to have a response if she had inadvertently rubbed her nostril and uncovered that drug to a number of the blood vessels in her nostril or licked her fingers or rubbed her eyes.”

The truth is, the greenback invoice had no residue on it, and it was discarded by police after they discovered no proof of a criminal offense.

One other incident occurred in 2017 by which an Arkansas police division warned the general public about fentanyl residue on Walmart buying carts. The division warned individuals to wipe off buying cart handles earlier than utilizing them whereas delivering a message on Fb that mentioned touching hint quantities of the substance might be toxic. The unique submit has since been deleted, and the officer that wrote it issued an apology, saying he "ought to have checked into it additional."

“You can't overdose simply by touching fentanyl or one other opioid, and you can not overdose simply by being round it,” Dr. Ryan Marino, the medical director of toxicology and habit at College Hospitals, Cleveland, advised Reuters. “It is not going to get into the air and trigger anybody to overdose.”

The report, coupled with widespread concern concerning the rising prevalence of the lethal drug, reinvigorated the debunked concept.

“The consensus of the scientific neighborhood stays that sickness from unintentional exposures is extraordinarily unlikely, as a result of opioids should not effectively absorbed by way of the pores and skin and are unlikely to be carried within the air,” in accordance to physicians at Johns Hopkins College.

The parable has gained traction resulting from reviews from regulation enforcement, in addition to warnings from the federal government. Public well being officers solely not too long ago eliminated an advisory for first responders coping with opioids about passive publicity to fentanyl. A video printed by the Nationwide Institute for Occupational Security & Well being, an company throughout the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, was not too long ago taken down as a result of it erroneously claimed that first responders and drug enforcement officers are endangered by passive publicity to fentanyl.

“Reviews of emergency responders creating signs after contact with these substances have described nonspecific findings resembling ‘dizziness’ or ‘feeling like physique shutting down,’ ‘dying’ with out goal indicators of opioid toxicity resembling respiratory melancholy,” the American Faculty of Medical Toxicology and the American Academy of Scientific Toxicology mentioned in a joint assertion.

Fentanyl is an artificial opiate as much as 100 occasions stronger than morphine and 50 occasions stronger than heroin. An infinitesimal dose can show deadly, and drug customers are sometimes misled to imagine the merchandise they’re consuming are pure when, actually, they're laced with the deadly opioid.

Reported fentanyl-related deaths have elevated by 56% from 2019 to 2020. Deaths linked to the artificial opioid climbed an additional 23% from 2020 to 2021, from about 58,000 deaths in 2020 to over 71,000 the 12 months after.