1 day, 1 city: 43 overdoses, 1 death

LOUISVILLE — Authorities handled more than 40 overdoses Thursday — including one fatal case in a moving car — nearly doubling what Kentucky's largest city has dealt with daily this year.

After receiving 695 overdose calls in January, about 22 a day, Louisville Metro Emergency Services had 43 calls through 10 p.m. ET Thursday.

"When we say overdoses, we usually mean heroin, but that included alcohol, prescription medications, etc.," said Mitchell Burmeister, emergency services spokesman.

He said they're working with other agencies to pinpoint whether the rash of calls came from something out of the ordinary.

The total through the first month of 2017 was a 33% increase from January 2016, up from 524 overdoses. Burmeister pinned the increase on drugs — especially heroin — being more readily available but called it the "same old, same old."

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Previous overdose spikes have occurred because another potent opioid, fentanyl, had been added to batches of heroin, said Van Ingram, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy. In Jefferson County, which contains Louisville, fentanyl-related deaths increased more than five times from 2015 to 2016, spiking to 139 from 26.

"I’m afraid it's reality we’re going to see repeated far too often," he said.

While the number of overdoses is not among the most reported in a single day in a U.S. city — in one example Nov. 17, 50 heroin overdoses that included five deaths occurred in Philadelphia, according to The (Philadelphia) Inquirer — far more telling is a look at the rate of overdoses on a single day.

• For Philadelphia on that one November day, its rate of overdoses was 3.2 people per 100,000 residents.

• In Louisville, a smaller city by more than half, the rate was 7.0 victims per 100,000 residents Thursday.

• Huntington, W.Va., a city of fewer than 50,000 population nearly 300 miles up the Ohio River from Louisville, had 26 overdose victims Aug. 15 and all were revived with naloxone, The (Huntington, W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch reported. On that day, its rate was 53.5 overdoses per 100,000 population.

• Cincinnati, more than 125 miles upriver, had 78 overdoses on Aug. 23 and 24 but no deaths, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Splitting the number evenly at 39 deaths per day gives the city 10.0 overdoses per 100,000 each day.

Earlier this month, Cleveland emergency responders attended to 14 overdose victims Feb. 4, including six deaths, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported. That was 3.6 overdoses per 100,000 residents. 

Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness officials have been warning users at their needle exchange to be on guard for fentanyl.

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"If someone is opioid addicted and they hear there's a more dangerous or potent drug in the community, they'll seek it out," said Dr. Kevin Burke of Jeffersonville, Ind., the Clark County health commissioner. "Our community has to look at this problem and figure out we have to continue to fight it. ... All of the vested need to get together to agree on a solution."

Clark County is directly across the Ohio River from Louisville and also has problems with opioid addiction. 2016 saw at least 90 overdose deaths, up from 55 the previous year, Burke said.

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Thursday's calls in Louisville included a pickup truck's driver and passenger, whose names were not released, involved in a crash during a likely heroin overdose. The passenger died while the driver was taken to the University of Louisville Hospital and administered Narcan, an opiate antidote.

"It's not too different from drunk driving if you think about it," Burmeister said. "But that was uncommon."

Contributing: Terry DeMio, The Cincinnati Enquirer. Follow Justin Sayers on Twitter: @_JustinSayers

Heroin overdoses hit cities hard

The nation's opioid epidemic has strained hospitals and first responders with the numbers of daily heroin overdoses. Some recent spikes and the rate per 100,000 residents:

Source: News reports