Mustard agents long-term effects

For military use, harassing agents are intended to reduce or destroy the effectiveness of enemy troops. For this purpose, rapid onset of effects is usually, but not always, desired. Rapid recovery facilitates the handling of prisoners, whereas men injured by mustard gas require intensive care and weeks for recovery. There were no plans for studying long-term effects of World War I harassing agents. 

The long-term effects of lewisite exposure do not include extensive skin burning as is seen with the mustard agents, but chronic respiratory disease may... 

Much information on both the short-term and the long-term effects of mustard in man comes from its battlefield use in World War I and the Iran-Iraq War, and from experimental studies during the World War I and World War II periods.24 In contrast, no data from the battlefield use of nerve agents are available. Information on the effects of nerve agents in man comes from the accidental exposure of hundreds of people who were mildly or moderately exposed while working with nerve agents and from a handful of workers who had severe exposures. Investigational studies carried out in hundreds of people also provide information. 

Long-Term Effects of the Chemical Warfare Agent Sulfur Mustard... 

CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). 1988. Final Recommendations for Protecting Health and Safety Against Potential Adverse Effects of Long-Term Exposure to Low Doses of Agents GA, GB, VX Mustard Agent (H, HD, T) and Lewisite (L). Federal Register, Vol. 53, No. 50, March 15. 

DHHS (U.S. Department of Healdi and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control). 1988. Final recommendations for protecting the healdi and safety against potential adverse effects of long-term exposure to low doses of agents GA, GB, Mustard (H, HD, T), and... 

Sidell, F.R., Hurst, C.G. (1997). Long-term health effects of nerve agents and mustard. In Textbook of Military Medicine -Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare (R. Zajtchuk, R.F. Bellamy, eds), pp. 229 6. Office of the Surgeon General, Deptirtment of the Army, Washington, DC. 

Smith, K.J., Hurst, C.G., Moeller, R.B., Skelton, H.G., Sidell, F.R. (1995). Sulfur mustard its continuing threat as a chemical warfare agent, the cutaneous lesions induced, progress in understanding its mechanism of action, its long-term health effects, and new developments for protection and therapy. J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. 32 16S-16. 

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