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BullaPlural, bullae
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Blister Agents
Blister Agents
Lewisite is a vesicant gas.
The door is open; many victims are lying on the floor. What do you do first?
A patient is suffering from painful, highly corrosive burns similar to acid, and wheals have begun to appear on the skin. Which vesicant (blister agent) is suspected?
A blister is a small bubble between layers of skin which contains watery or bloody fluid and is caused by friction and pressure, burning, freezing, chemical irritation, disease or infection.
A patient is suffering from painful, highly corrosive burns similar to acid, and wheals have begun to appear on the skin. Which vesicant (blister agent) is suspected?
A blister agent is a severe contact irritant. They cause severe chemical burns to any exposed tissue, resulting in large water-filled blisters forming on the affected tissue. Most blister agents are both contact and inhalation hazards. If inhaled, they can cause death shortly after exposure, as the lungs and throat quickly burn and fill with blisters, inhibiting breathing. Alternately, these blister burst, filling the lungs with fluid. Death from inhalation of a blister agent can vary from minutes to several days later, depending on the amount of exposure (the more, the quicker the death). Contact with the outer skin is much less fatal, though extremely painful. Fatalities are usually the result of infection and sepsis from the burst blister wounds.
Exposure to a weaponized blister agent can cause a number of life-threatening symptoms, including:Severe skin, eye and mucosal pain and irritationSkin erythemawith large fluid blisterthat heal slowly and may become infectedtears, conjunctivitis, corneadamageMild respiratory-distress-1to marked airway damageAll blister agents currently known are heavier than air, and are readily absorbed through the eyes, lungs, and skin. Effects of the two mustard agents are typically delayed: exposure to vapors becomes evident in 4 to 6 hours, and skin exposure in 2 to 48 hours. The effects of lewisiteare immediate.