Fentanyl News and Research

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Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opiate analgesic similar to but more potent than morphine. It is typically used to treat patients with severe pain, or to manage pain after surgery. It is also sometimes used to treat people with chronic pain who are physically tolerant to opiates. It is a schedule II prescription drug.

New fentanyl vaccine could prevent deadly opioid from entering the brain

A research team led by the University of Houston has developed a vaccine targeting the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl that could block its ability to enter the brain, thus eliminating the drug's "high."

14 Nov 2022

Fentanyl in high school: A Texas community grapples with the reach of the deadly opioid

The hallways of Lehman High School looked like any other on a recent fall day. Its 2,100 students talked and laughed as they hurried to their next classes, moving past walls covered with flyers that advertised homecoming events, clubs, and football games.

10 Nov 2022

UC researchers receive NIH grant to study how alcohol, fentanyl affect HIV medications

The United States has set a goal of reducing the number of new HIV infections by 75% by 2025 and by at least 90% by 2030, mirroring the United Nations' initiative to end the AIDS epidemic as a global health threat by 2030.

2 Nov 2022

Using a nanotechnology-packed bubble to detect SARS-CoV-2 virus

Scientists have shown that they can detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in the air by using a nanotechnology-packed bubble that spills its chemical contents like a broken piñata when encountering the virus.

25 Oct 2022

Two cases of acute abdominal pain in patients with COVID-19 in their second week of illness

Researchers described two cases of acute pain in the abdomen of patients with COVID-19.

17 Oct 2022

Ophthalmologists may be able to safely cut back on having anesthesiologists during cataract surgery

Ophthalmologists may be able to safely cut back on having anesthesiologists or nurse anesthetists routinely at bedside during cataract surgery, which accounts for more than two million surgeries per year in the U.S., according to a study publishing Oct. 3 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

3 Oct 2022

At this recovery center, police cope with the mental health costs of the job

Ken Beyer can't think of a day in the past few months when his phone didn't flutter with calls, text messages, and emails from a police department, a sheriff's office, or a fire station seeking help for an employee.

27 Sep 2022

Artificial intelligence tools speed up the process of identifying people who inject drugs

An automated process that combines natural language processing and machine learning identified people who inject drugs (PWID) in electronic health records more quickly and accurately than current methods that rely on manual record reviews.

22 Sep 2022

Doctors rush to use Supreme Court ruling to escape opioid charges

Dr. Nelson Onaro conceded last summer that he'd written illegal prescriptions, although he said he was thinking only of his patients. From a tiny, brick clinic in Oklahoma, he doled out hundreds of opioid pills and dozens of fentanyl patches with no legitimate medical purpose.

19 Sep 2022

Study finds spike in the "Years of Life Lost" among adolescents during COVID-19 pandemic

The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a 113% increase in the "Years of Life Lost" among adolescents and young people in the United States due to unintentional drug overdose, according to researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine.

13 Sep 2022

New long-term opioid use associated with a heightened risk of death, study finds

New long term use of opioids to quell pain after lung cancer surgery is linked to a 40% heightened risk of death from any cause within the next 2 years, finds research published online in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.

13 Sep 2022

EEG tests reveal fentanyl's effects on the brain

Fentanyl is used to supplement sedation and to relieve severe pain during and after surgery, but it's also one of the deadliest drugs of the opioid epidemic.

30 Aug 2022

A needle exchange project modeled on urban efforts aims to save lives in rural Nevada

Richard Cusolito believes he's saving lives by distributing clean syringes and needles to people who use drugs in this rural area of northeastern Nevada — but he knows some residents disagree.

24 Aug 2022

Key gene sheds light on how people develop tolerance to pain-relievers over time

UF Scripps Biomedical Research scientists have a discovered a key gene that is shedding light on how people develop tolerance to pain-relievers over time, a problem that raises risk of addiction and overdose.

18 Aug 2022

Public health agencies adapt covid lessons to curb overdoses, STDs, and gun violence

Shannan Piccolo walked into a hotel with a tote bag full of Narcan and a speech about how easy it is to use the medicine that can reverse opioid overdoses.

17 Aug 2022

Methamphetamine use is pervasive and drives overdoses in rural communities across the U.S.

Methamphetamine remains a stubbornly prevalent illicit substance in large swaths of rural America, according to a new study by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University and other institutions.

15 Aug 2022

They call it ‘tranq’ — and it’s making street drugs even more dangerous

Approaching a van that distributes supplies for safer drug use in Greenfield, Massachusetts, a man named Kyle noticed an alert about xylazine.

11 Aug 2022

Experts use tools from artificial intelligence to rapidly identify substances that cause overdose deaths

An automated process based on computer algorithms that can read text from medical examiners' death certificates can substantially speed up data collection of overdose deaths – which in turn can ensure a more rapid public health response time than the system currently used, new UCLA research finds.

9 Aug 2022

Study highlights the urgency of removing barriers to accessing medications for opioid use disorder

The opioid overdose and death epidemic continues to worsen across the United States, but medications such as methadone, buprenorphine, and extended-release naltrexone are proven to reduce opioid overdoses by more than 50 percent.

4 Aug 2022

Music festivals embrace overdose reversal drugs, but fentanyl testing kits remain taboo

A 26-year-old was found dead at his campsite during the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2019. The toxicology report linked his death to a grim trend that has only worsened since.

3 Aug 2022