PNEUMONIA

Morphine is produced from opium, and heroin is produced from morphine.  Morphine is widely used in medicine to relieve pain and discomfort, so an addict may walk around with a serious illness and not realize it.

This man came home and fell asleep on the couch.  During the night his wife heard him making gurgling sounds and asked him if he was all right. "I feel great, just great", he replied.  The next morning he was found dead.

He died not from a heroin overdose but from a severe case of pneumonia.  The heroin had masked the symptoms of his illness.

Compare the normal lung tissue as seen under a microscope (at right) with the infected lung tissue which is filled with inflammatory cells (shown above).

© 1998, 2005 Deep 6 Productions, Inc. Unauthorized duplication or distribution of these images prohibited under U.S. copyright law.