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ANTIDOTES & TREATMENT

Symptoms for exposure to mustard agent do not occur immediately and it may already one day later that the victims realises that he/she has been contaminated, but by then cellular damage could be extensive.Symptoms of mustard agent exposure vary from skin inflammation to accute respiration difficulty.

In gaseous state, the mustard agent causes blisters and pigementation on the skin, which may lead to skin necrosis (cell suicide where lysosome ruptures and hydrolytic enzymes digest organelles in the cell).

Inhalation of mustard agent results in lung damage and even injury to the bone marrow,lymphatic tissue and spleen.This may cause a drastic reduction in the number of white blood cells (somewhat opposite to leukaemia! could it be a possible cure one day?!) 5-10 days after exposure, a condition very similar to that after exposure to radiation. This reduction of the immune defence will complicate the already large risk of infection in people with severe skin and lung injuries.

During decontamination, the affected victim's skin is rinsed with soap and water.Eyes are flushed with physiological salt solution for a minimum period of ten minutes.Local anaesthetics can be utilised to relieve pain and treatment for eye injuries usually involves anitbiotics that has to be consumed completely according to the doctor's prescriptions.

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