'Zombie drug' kills you from the inside out

JOLIET, Ill. -- A flesh-eating drug that turns people into zombie-like creatures seems to have made its way to the United States.

This extremely addictive injectable opioid is called krokodil (pronounced like crocodile) or desomorphine. It's so named in part because users report black or green scaly skin as a side effect.

This weekend five people were hospitalized in the Chicago suburb of Joliet, Illinois, with symptoms similar to cases reported recently in Utah, Arizona and Oklahoma.

Dr. AbhinSingla said he suspects a woman he treated this weekend was suffering from krokodil addiction. Singla is an internist and addiction specialist at Joliet's Presence St. Joseph Medical Center. The patient lost significant portions of her legs, he said.

"It's a zombie drug -- it literally kills you from the inside out," Singla said. "If you want way to die, this is a way to die."

Krokodil causes serious damage to the veins and soft tissue infections, rapidly followed by gangrene and necrosis, according to a 2013 study (PDF).

The soft tissue damage happens around the injection site. The drug also seems to clump in the veins as it fails to dissolve completely in the blood. The clumps make their way to distant places in the body and start to damage tissue, said Dr. Robert Geller, medical director of the Georgia Poison Center.

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