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A newborn baby took five days to starve to death - after both her parents died of a drug overdose.

An autopsy carried out on tiny Summer Chambers discovered she died of dehydration and starvation at her home in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Her death has been ruled a homicide.

The five-month-old was found to have died on or around December 20 - four or five days after her parents overdosed on fentanyl, according to Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees.

A synthetic opioid, the powerful drug is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.

Johnstown police Chief Jeff Janciga told WJAC-TV: "It's unfathomable to think what this child endured while it was alive."

The New York Daily News reports that the parents, Jason Chambers, 27, and Chelsea Cardaro, 19, were found dead at the home on December 22.

Toxicology reports revealed they had consumed acute fentanyl overdoses.

The family was from New York and had been living in the house since May, according to a neighbour.

Lees ruled their deaths accidental - and heroin was also recovered from the home that same day.

District attorney officials and police detectives are investigating the child's death since the parents can't be criminally charged, Janciga said.

Authorities say there was a history of drug abuse at the home.

Police were called to the home in November after Chambers overdosed and had to be revived with Narcan, said Johnstown police Capt. Chad Miller.

Child and Youth Services met with the parents and the child at the home following the incident.

Officials determined the house was “appropriate” for Summer to live in because there “was plenty of food and the child seemed well taken care of."