Abuse of the painkiller Fentanyl is rapidly becoming one of the leading causes of accidental drug overdoses in Trumbull County, far outpacing those from heroin.

County Coroner Dr. Humphrey Germaniak on Tuesday released the latest available statistics on accidental drug overdoses from the beginning of this year until mid-July.

Those figures show that of the 55 accidental overdose deaths between January 1 and July 19, 2016, twenty two of those deaths were due to acute Fentanyl intoxication, making it the leading cause of fatal overdoses.

During the same period in the previous year there were 51 deadly drug overdoses in the county. Five of those were due to Fentanyl.

Also in that period, heroin overdoses accounted for five accidental deaths in 2015 and six deaths this year.

Fentanyl deaths this year are outpacing the second largest cause of overdoses, intoxication due to polydrugs, which is is the coroner's designation for overdoses due to multiple drugs.

Nineteen people have died due to abuse of polydrugs.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the biological effects of fentanyls are indistinguishable from those of heroin, with the exception that the fentanyls may be hundreds of times more potent.

Fentanyls are most commonly used by intravenous administration, but like heroin, they may also be smoked or snorted.