Injection of household spray insecticide

During a three-week period, two patients who had attempted suicide by injecting themselves with commercially available household spray insecticides were seen in our emergency department. Both presented with cellulitis at and adjacent to the injection sites, and both were admitted for intravenous antibiotics, warm soaks, and elevation. In both patients abscesses subsequently developed in the areas of cellulitis. It is not clear whether the pathologic processes in these two patients were primarily due to inoculation of microorganisms or to the effects of the insecticide per se.