Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare (2008) - The Black Vault

Riot Control Agentscaused the CS to reaerosolize. This caused swelling andreddening of the exposed skin in many firemen. 76Weigand and associates 72 documented a case inwhich soldiers experienced first- and second-degreeburns from exposure to CS1 during a training exercise.Upon exposure, all soldiers experience a stinging sensationon their exposed skin. At 2 hours postexposure,some soldiers cleaned their body of the agent andchanged their contaminated clothing; however, manydid not. Those who did not bathe or change clothesdeveloped severe erythema and blistering of the skin14 to 16 hours postexposure. 72Weimar and associates 77 conducted patch testing onfour volunteers with a 1% CS trioctylphosphate solutionand solutions of 0.01% to 1.0% on the forearmsof five volunteers. One subject experienced a stingingsensation for the first 30 minutes of the patch test.When the CS volume was increased from 0.01 to 0.025mL on both bare skin and patch test skin, no reactionswere noted. The researchers also applied patches ofCS trioctylphosphate solutions ranging from 0.1%to 1% CS to the foreheads of five volunteers, whichcreated stinging at all concentrations. Increasing thetemperature from 75°C to 105°C and duplicating thetests produced similar results. 77Ballantyne and associates 78 exposed the skin of52 volunteers to concentrations of CS ranging from0.001% to 0.005% in glyceryl triacetate by saturatingtheir clothes and bare skin with the solutions. The skineffects presented as sunburn-like irritation that startedaround the eyes and spread across the body, withhands and feet being affected last. The scalp and earswere not usually affected. The symptoms diminishedafter 10 minutes, even with the presence of soakedclothing. Erythema was observed hours later; however,no vesication, edema, or desquamation occurred.Minor cuts and abrasions were not affected differentlythan healthy skin. 78Ophthalmologic effects. CS causes instant irritation,burning, and swelling of the conjunctivae of theeye. It is most often accompanied by lacrimation andblepharospasm and in some cases, photophobia. 54Several studies, animal and human, have been conductedto evaluate the ophthalmologic effects of thisagent. 51,52,76,78–80 An early study exposed military andcivilian volunteers in a wind tunnel to CS dispersedvia CS-acetone spray (3 µm), CS-methylene dichloridespray (1 µm), and an M18 grenade (0.5 µm). Eyes ofthe subjects were instantly affected by burning thatlasted 2 to 5 minutes, followed by conjunctivitis thatremained up to 30 minutes. Tearing was producedalmost immediately and persisted up to 15 minutes,whereas reddening of the eyelids persisted for an hour.Uncontrollable blinking sometimes accompanied theexposure. Some subjects complained of eye fatiguelasting 24 hours postexposure. For nearly 1 hourpostexposure, 5% to 10% of the subjects experiencedphotophobia. 51Punte et al 52 evaluated the effect of CS particle sizeon the human eye by exposing six volunteers in awind tunnel to CS particles of small size (0.9 µm massmedian diameter) disseminated from a 2% CS solutionin methylene dichloride and large-size (60 µm massmedian diameter) particles from a powder hopper.Only the eyes were exposed. Two of five men exposedto small particles were able to tolerate exposure for 60seconds, while all six men exposed to large particleswere able to tolerate the exposure. Postexposure, allsubjects had difficulty seeing. Recovery was 90 secondsfor the smaller particles and 280 seconds for the largerparticles. The study concluded that small particlesproduce eye irritation much faster than large particles;however, larger particles prolong the eye effect. 52Rengstorff 76 tested the ocular effects of CS on humanvolunteers by exposing them to concentrations of0.1 to 6.7 mg•min/m 3 of CS (thermally dispersed) orCS2 (powder dispersed) for 20 seconds to 10 minutes.Subjects who kept their eyes open could read a visionchart and showed no significant change in visual acuitycaused by the exposure. 76 In a follow-on study, theresearchers administered 0.1% or 0.25% CS solutionsin water and 1% solution in trioctylphosphate directlyinto the eyes of several volunteers. In addition to thosesymptoms experienced by Gutentag’s study group,the subjects were unable to open their eyes for 10 to135 seconds postexposure. Examination revealed nocorneal damage. 79,80Ballantyne and associates 78 evaluated the oculareffects of CS by drenching clothed military volunteerswith solutions containing 0.001% CS (3 men, 2women), 0.002% CS (3 men, 2 women), 0.003% CS (2men, 2 women), and 0.005% CS (22 men, 11 women)in glyceryl triacetate. Subjects were either drenchedindividually or as a group. For individual drenching,subjects were saturated at the head, trunk, andleg level at a rate of 15 L over a 15-second period.Subjects were observed and questioned at 20 minutespostexposure. For group drenching, the spray wasdirected at the group for a period of 1 minute. Thegroup exercised before and after the drenching. Individualswere questioned during the exercises and asa group after showering. CS was found to affect theeye within seconds, causing stinging, uncontrollableblinking, and tearing. The irritant did not blur vision;rather, blurred vision was caused by tears. Symptomsresolved in 3 to 5 minutes. 78Gray and Murray 81 and Yih 82 reported an increasein eye injury caused by the use of CS sprays in451