Doctors in the U.S. states of Illinois and Arizona have reported treating patients who were users of the flesh-eating drug Krokodil. The drug is apparently new to the United States. The flesh-eating drug was reported spreading in the U.S. after a number of Krokodil-related cases was reported to authorities.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has released a statement for the public to be aware of Krokodil, a drug allegedly from Russia. Jack Riley, special agent-in-charge of DEA Chicago Field Division, said the agency was "very concerned" about the news of patients being treated at Presence St Joseph Medical Center.

The patients were reportedly suffering from symptoms due to consistent use of Krokodil. Mr Riley said the DEA's task force members and DEA agents were on the streets to investigate the source. He assured the public that agents were already working to track any leads.

He said the DEA will not know the extent of what the drug is all about until the agency can locate the source and the drugs in question. Mr Riley said that the DEA is sure that Krokodil is "extremely dangerous" and the agency will do its best to stop the trafficking.

The statement released by Mr Riley may be a contradiction to earlier reports seen on Fox News in which a DEA spokesperson, Dawn Dearden, said that the agency does not know of any Krokodil case since nothing has gone through its labs.

According to DEA representative Rusty Payne, the agency first heard of Krokodil in 2011 and began monitoring its activity. Mr Payne said the DEA was looking into the drug overseas but the drug has yet to appear in the U.S. He also told Fox News that he would not be surprised when the flesh-eating drug reaches the U.S.

Krokodil is created by boiling codeine tablets with paint thinner, lighter fluid and gasoline. The resulting drug reportedly gives users the same high as they get when using heroin but at a cheaper price. Once the drug is injected, the impurities in Krokodil can cause extensive damage to human tissues. This will ultimately cause human flesh to rot away.

Users who were admitted to a hospital in Chicago said they thought the drug they bought was heroin. They were surprised to see lesions on their skin after using the cheap drug that turned out to be Krokodil.

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