injuries poisoning
Systemic Asphyxiant Chemical Warfare Agents
Introduction
Systemic asphyxiants are a type of Overview of Chemical-Warfare Agents and include Cyanide compounds Hydrogen sulfide Systemic asphyxiants have also been called blood agents because they are systemically distributed via the blood. However, their site of action is not the blood but rather at the cellular level throughout the body. Cyanide saltshave been used to murder via ingestion, but mass casualties could also result from inhalation of hydrogen cyanide or cyanogen chloride, which are highly volatile liquids or gases at ambient temperatures. Cyanides are also products of combustion of numerous household and industrial contents, and patients with smoke inhalation may also have cyanide poisoning. Cyanide has a characteristic bitter-almond odor, but ability to detect this odor is conferred by a single gene that is absent in half the population. Hydrogen sulfideis always a gas at ambient temperatures. Exposure is thus usually by inhalation. Hydrogen sulfide can be produced by mixing sulfur-containing household chemicals with acids; this combination has been used for suicide (termed detergent suicide), and residual gas can affect rescuers, causing multiple casualties. Hydrogen sulfide is also produced when manure decomposes. Large farm manure pits often contain lethal quantities of the gas, which may cause multiple casualties as would-be rescuers without proper protective gear succumb. Hydrogen sulfide has a characteristic rotten egg odor, but high concentrations damage olfactory fibers so that this odor will not be perceived in the most lethal environments. (See also Overview of Chemical-Warfare Agents .) Hydrogen sulfide in high concentrations damages olfactory fibers so that the characteristic rotten egg odor will not be perceived in the most lethal environments. 