West Virginia distributing 8,000 overdose antidote kits
"Naloxone is a lifesaving antidote that, if administered in a timely manner, can effectively reverse respiratory depression caused by opioid and opiate overdose and revive victims," said Dr. Rahul Gupta, commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health.
More than 4,000 of the two-dose kits will go out in the next few weeks to high priority areas, including needle-exchange programs and police and fire departments in the cities of Huntington, Charleston, Wheeling and Morgantown and other urban and rural areas.
Emergency medical personnel currently carry the antidote, but this project should make it more widely available to other first responders and to people at high risk, their family members, friends and caregivers, said Herb Linn, the center's deputy director.
The state response includes making more treatment, counseling and workforce training available, as well as screening pregnant women, whose cases and babies are treated as a priority, he said.