Radiation illness invoking gases..

Fizzle Joined: Nov 24, 2008 Posts: 5

I have a friend who walked into a cloud of gas. He had gotten very ill - burning, blotchy skin and coughing up blood. Do any of you happen to know any commonly used gases that are used in the war that could cause such ailments?

Forum Admin Joined: Aug 06, 2006 Posts: 1631 Location: UK

Which war did your friend serve in?

Fizzle Joined: Nov 24, 2008 Posts: 5

He is in the war in the Middle East right now. If this is of any help, he is also a Russian soldier.

Forum Admin Joined: Aug 06, 2006 Posts: 1631 Location: UK

You need to provide more detail about the exact circumstances before I could even begin to comment.

Fizzle Joined: Nov 24, 2008 Posts: 5

That was [unfortunately] all the information he could give me. All he said is that he ran into a cloud of gas that contained radiation and he had to get medical attention shortly after. Those were the exact symptoms he told me about.. nothing else. I am guessing that it was something similar to a nerve gas bomb.

Forum Admin Joined: Aug 06, 2006 Posts: 1631 Location: UK

Tell your friend to get some medical advice.

Fizzle Joined: Nov 24, 2008 Posts: 5

Well, as long as he's in the hospital, he should be fine... but I want to find out what was used to harm him. He did mention sarin gas, but the symptoms didn't fit - besides he would've died.

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:45 am

I now this post is a little more than a month old, but I'm sure your concern for your friend is still there.

I'm no expert on radiation exposure, but if your skin was to become burning and blotchy or blistering immediately or a few hours after radiation exposure, then that sounds like an extremely high and lethal dose of radiation. So basically, a radioactive cloud of gas could not possess enough energy or REMs to cause this to your skin.

You mentioned the war in the Middle East. If you are referring to Iraq, then lets look at the history between Saddam Hussein and the Kurds. Mustard gas was one of the chemical weapons used against the Kurds. I could only guess that some of these chemical agents are still lying around.

In conclusion, the symptoms your friend mentioned, sound kind of like mustard gas. This chemical is not a nerve agent but more of an extreme irritant. Here's a link worth looking at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/18714.htm

Hope this helps.

Fizzle Joined: Jan 24, 2009 Posts: 1

Fliegerin wrote:

I have a friend who walked into a cloud of gas. He had gotten very ill - burning, blotchy skin and coughing up blood. Do any of you happen to know any commonly used gases that are used in the war that could cause such ailments?

This to me sounds like he was a victim of a blistering agent, I do not know for sure of course, but I did research on chemical warfare for a speech and this definitely sounds like the handywork of a blistering agent.

Blistering agents irritate the external skin in addition to attacking the internal structures of the throat, which could result in the oral expulsion of blood.

Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:49 pm

Yes that definitly sounds like like a blistering agent. If the symptoms started immediately it was Lewisite, if the symptoms were delayed up to about two hours it was mustard gas. Most likely the agent was distilled and therefor was odorless. But if he smelled something it can also be used to determine which agent it was. Lewisite in the non distilled form smells like geraniums and mustard gas as the name says smells like mustard or garlic.

It certainly was no radiation poisoning because a radiation dose high enough to cause such severe symptoms whould have also made him lose his hair temporarly. Also the skin does not start to burn when irradiated.

Tell your friend to check his lungs on a regular basis. When the lungs are poisoned with a blistering agent the walls of the alveoles start to increase in thickness. This makes the exchange of gases somewhat slower and might cause him problems later on.

Another thing to be aware of is certainly skin and lung cancer. Blistering agents tend to increase the cancer risc.

These effects are all relatively long term so it's no use of panicking and spending all your money for the doctors. There are victims of mustard gas that lived to see their 100th birthday.

All my best wishes for your friend and don't be shy to ask further questions.