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Ill. sisters: Heroin-like drug ‘Krokodil’ eats flesh and destroys skin, lives

Doctors say Krokodil rots the skin from the inside out causing gangrene; one sister had to undergo emergency surgery last week to save her legs

WLS.com

JOLIET, Ill. — There is a new warning about a deadly drug said to devour flesh from the inside out. Several members of one suburban family are struggling to cope with the effects of Krokodil, the drug known as “crocodile.”

Amber Neitzel of Joliet says she first noticed the wounds on her skin 18 months ago. “It almost starts like a burn from a cigarette,” she said. “It starts purple and then goes into a blister after five or six days.”

Amber Neitzel and her sister Angie Neitzel are heroin addicts. They’re also two of the five confirmed victims of a heroin-like flesh eating drug called Krokodil, or crocodile, reported by St. Joseph Medical Center last week, the first confirmed cases in Illinois. “I’m scared to death right now. I can barely leave my house,” Angie Neitzel said.

Full story: Joliet sisters: Heroin-like drug ‘Krokodil’ eats flesh and destroys skin, lives