Need for multiple naloxone doses rises

“We found there were 31,000 cases in which 2 or more naloxone doses were needed in 2015 in a prehospital setting,” said lead author Mark Faul of the CDC. “Of those, 4,000 cases required 3 doses, 1,600 required 4 doses, 615 required 5 doses and 200 cases required 6 or more doses.” He noted that not all people requiring multiple naloxone doses were successfully revived. Only 16.7% of the 911 calls identified the medical emergency as a drug ingestion or poisoning event, and reported layperson naloxone administration prior to EMS arrival was only 1%.