By Marie Rosenthal
More than 50% of people in 10 states who died of opioid overdoses during the second half of 2016 tested positive for fentanyl, according to a new CDC report (Morb Mortal Wkly Rep MMWR 2017 Oct. 27. [Epub ahead of print]).
The report found that out of 5,152 opioid overdose deaths in these states, almost 3,000 cases (56.3%) tested positive for fentanyl, and more than 700 tested positive for drugs that have similar chemical structures to fentanyl, including the fentanyl analog,