Dany Thekkemuriyil and Unnikrishnan Pillai, physicians at SSM St. Mary’s Health Center in Richmond Heights, Mo., reported treating a patient in December 2012. The 30-year-old man revealed thighs where skin was rotting away and a hand with a missing finger, telling the doctors that he had been injecting himself with the synthesized version of heroin. He said he had been using the designer drug eight months.

 “We saw that his finger fell off and we saw a severe looking ulcer and sores on his thigh and it did really fit the picture of Krokodil,” Thekkemuriyil told KTVI-TV in St. Louis.

 The substance called Krokodil – the Russian word for crocodile – got its name from turning users skin green and scaly like a crocodile’s. Desomorphine, the drug’s official name, is made by cooking prescription painkillers with contaminants such as gasoline, alcohol, paint thinner or lighter fluid.

 The drug produces a high similar to heroin but is much cheaper to make and more addictive. The drug causes flesh to rot from the inside out, blood vessels burst and the surrounding tissue die. Gangrene and amputations are a common result and sometimes bone can be exposed. The high lasts for about an hour and a half and the drug can be up to 10 times cheaper than heroin.

 According to STL Today the St. Louis man said he had turned to the drug because he could no longer afford his $300-a-day heroin habit.

 The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has not confirmed any cases in the US since two were reported, including a poison control center in Phoenix and a hospital in Joliet, Illinois, but did put out an information sheet in October for doctors and law enforcement officers to watch for potential signs of Krokodil abuse.

 Dr. Dany Thekkemuriyil and Dr. Unnikrishnan Pillai said they started researching the drug in order to warn the public.

 ‘We wanted people to be aware of this very deadly poisonous drug and we want people to stay away from this,’ they say, warning that addiction is spreading among young people and even those who manage to quit come away disfigured for life.

 Their British counterparts share concerns – ‘It is hugely addictive and potent and can be cooked up in 30 minutes. It’s only a matter of time before we start seeing it in Britain. It is not a case of ‘if’ but ‘when’, Norman Baker, minister for crime prevention, told The Sun.

 ‘We are determined to tackle the illicit drug trade which can have such a destructive impact on the lives of so many,’ he added.

 In the US, Arizona may be the “epicenter” of the drug’s possible uprising, according to a story published by AZ Family.

 In September, at least two possible cases of the drug were reported by Banner Good Samaritan Poison Control Center in Phoenix.

 Other potential cases have appeared in Illinois, Ohio and Oklahoma, though, as the Daily Beast notes, confirmed cases are much harder to come by.

 Last month, Drug Enforcement Agency officials in Chicago expressed skepticism about the drug’s widespread use and are waiting to confirm cases by finding out where they can get samples of the drug. But emergency rooms from Arizona to Ohio are reporting treating patients with symptoms like those Thekkemuriyil and Pillai have described.

 “We want to keep it from spreading across our community. It eats people from the inside, it kills people from the inside literally,” Dr. Pillai said, calling for immediate action.