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Mustard Gas or Sulfur Mustard: An Old Chemical Agent as a New Terrorist Threat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Monica Wattana  and
Tareg Bey
Monica Wattana
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Orange, California, USA
Tareg Bey*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Orange, California, USA
*
Department of Emergency MedicineUniversity of California, Irvine101 The City Drive, Rte 128 Orange, CA 92868USA E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Sulfur mustard is a member of the vesicant class of chemical warfare agents that causes blistering to the skin and mucous membranes. There is no specific antidote, and treatment consists of systematically alleviating symptoms. Historically, sulfur mustard was used extensively in inter-governmental conflicts within the trenches of Belgium and France during World War I and during the Iran-Iraq conflict. Longitudinal studies of exposed victims show that sulfur mustard causes long-term effects leading to high morbidity. Given that only a small amount of sulfur mustard is necessary to potentially cause an enormous number of casualties, disaster-planning protocol necessitates the education and training of first-line healthcare responders in the recognition, decontamination, triage, and treatment of sulfur mustard-exposed victims in a large-scale scenario.

Keywords

chemical agentsmustard gassulfur mustardterrorist threat
Type
Comprehensive Review
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , February 2009 , pp. 19 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2009

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