Burns with inhalation injury and petrol aspiration in adolescents seeking euphoria through hydrocarbon inhalation

We have recently managed four adolescent boys severely injured while aspirating petrol to achieve euphoria. This is a practice that occurs sporadically in this group in which alcohol and drugs are more difficult to procure by reason of their age and fiscal resources. The injuries sustained included extensive burns all with associated severe inhalation injury secondary to smoke and products of combustion, complicated by hydrocarbon pneumonitis.