Clinical Manifestations of Sarin Nerve Gas Exposure

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lee EC
• Description:
  Chemical warfare has existed for millennia. As far back as 1000 BC, the Chinese used arsenical smoke as a weapon. In the last century, chemical agents have been used in warfare on numerous occasions, from World War I to the Iran-Iraq conflict. The world remains vulnerable to the deliberate use of chemical agents as weapons of mass destruction. Chemical attacks can be delivered with almost any type of conventional ballistic weapon, spray device, or by nontraditional means, such as that used by the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult to launch 2 attacks in public places in Japan by using sarin gas. The first attack occurred in Matsumoto, Japan, in June 1994. The second attack occurred in a Tokyo Subway in March 1995. Terrorists involved in this attack carried diluted sarin solution in plastic bags into subway trains and punctured the bags with sharpened umbrella tips. This released diluted sarin vapor into 3 convergent lines of the Tokyo subway system. This attack is the largest disaster caused by nerve gas in peacetime history. These attacks illustrated how an ill-prepared disaster management system can become overwhelmed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Chemistry Hazardous Substances Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Solvents
• Keywords:
  Chemical Agents Chemical Properties Gases Hazards Nerves Sarin Terrorism Toxic Effects Toxic Fumes Toxic Gases Toxic Vapors Vapors

  More +
• ISSN:
  0098-7484
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  290
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057386
• Citation:
  JAMA 2003 Aug; 290(5):659-662
• Contact Point Address:
  Earnest C. Lee, MD, MPH, Major, Medical Corps, US Air Force, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Fellow, Harvard Medical School, 401 Park Dr. Landmark Center, 3-111-3 East Boston MA 02215
• Email:
  elee@hsph.harvard.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard School of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20030701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the American Medical Association
• End Date:
  20050630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8aa5f288bb4f5877b4bd1b97beaac3dc42998983e0bfc6338d5726d6a8a22c6cf30ee99d08e4b8bb4482d55ffcc82bc33430f9e298596c2de4f6a70645fe9c00
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/214748/cdc_214748_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 82.30 KB ]