WASHINGTON — Despite increased public efforts to combat opioid abuse, the number of deaths from heroin overdoses nationally surged by 28 percent in 2014, and fatal overdoses from prescription painkillers climbed by 16.3 percent, according to federal health officials.

The 10,574 heroin deaths and the 18,893 deaths from prescription opioids were two big contributors to a sharp increase in fatal drug overdoses last year – a total of 47,055, up 7 percent from 2013, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The heroin overdose figure was more than three times higher than the 2010 tally.

“The bottom line is the opioid overdose epidemic has not abated and appears to have soared in 2014,” said Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It’s clear that we need to do more.”

In Maine over the same four years, overdose deaths spiked from 16 to 100. In July, Portland had 14 suspected heroin overdoses during one 24-hour period, resulting in two fatalities.

Frieden said the federal data, which was published without fanfare this week, may change after the CDC has a chance to review them and parse out cases of people who died with both heroin and prescription drugs in their systems. But even if some individuals were counted twice, he said, “It’s clear that the opiate epidemic from 2013 to 2014 got worse, not better.”

In the past few years, local, state and federal agencies have devoted additional resources to cracking down on illegal drug traffic, more widely distributing the drug naloxone, which reverses overdoses, and sending users to treatment instead of jail when possible.

And in recent months, the Obama administration announced new “public health-public safety partnerships” in areas plagued by drug overdoses, moved to increase access to treatment and took steps to better train doctors who prescribe prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, which have proven to be addictive.

The CDC is scheduled to publish new guidelines Monday for doctors who prescribe those drugs.

But the new numbers suggest that efforts to date have not stopped the tide of drugs washing through parts of the country. The Midwest, Great Lakes region and the Northeast have been particularly affected.

In recent years, more of the heroin shipped to Maine has passed through New York City, which has become the major distribution hub in the Northeast. Most of the heroin is diluted and repackaged there.

Deaths from prescription drug overdoses had leveled off at about 16,000 annually until 2014, the data show. Heroin deaths, however, rapidly escalated starting in 2010.

Authorities have said that government crackdowns on illegal pills pushed users to turn to heroin, which became cheaper and more widely available as drug cartels greatly increased their trafficking in the eastern United States.

Now, Frieden said, authorities are grappling with a rise in illegally manufactured fentanyl, which is 25 to 40 times more powerful than heroin. The drug is used legally to provide relief from severe pain caused by cancer and other diseases, but authorities say dealers are now lacing heroin with fentanyl to improve its potency, leading to more overdoses.

David J. Hickton, U.S. attorney for western Pennsylvania and co-chair of the Justice Department’s National Heroin Task Force, said Friday that fentanyl and more potent heroin appear to have contributed to the 2014 spike in fatal overdoses.

The government must do more to tighten prescription of legal opioids, provide treatment and crack down on illegal drugs, especially heroin, Frieden said. “We have to have a much greater respect for how dangerous opiates are,” he said.

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