Sulfur mustards bleach

Sulfur mustard reacts rapidly with chlorine or with bleach, and this reaction is a suitable means of decontamination. Nitrogen mustards, however, chlorinate extremely slowly thus chlorination is not suitable for their decontamination. The formation of water-soluble salts, such as by neutralization with sodium bisulfate, is the usual method for nitrogen mustard removal from contaminated surfaces. The mustard salts are much less vesicant than the corresponding free bases. 

Similar to bleach s oxidative iodine properties, topical povidone-iodine at 15 and 30 min post-exposure to sulfur mustard exhibited protective effects. Severity of the dermal parameters, acute inflammation and dermal necrosis was significantly reduced, and reduced skin damage was observed in areas adjacent to treated sites (Brodsky and Wormser, 2007). 

Decontamination of conventional wounds in a contaminated environment continues to be a major concern. Researchers have looked at the effect of bleach decontamination on damaged skin exposed to CWAs. Gold et al. (1994) evaluated the effects of water or diluted bleach (0.5%) as a wound decontaminant 2 min after hairless guinea pig was exposed to sulfur mustard. The study found that 0.5% hypochlorite and even water soaking for 5 min in a wound contaminated with sulfur mustard (20 mg/kg) cause greater necrosis than when no decontamination was carried out. This does not mean that the wound should not be decontaminated but rather that bleach soaking in the wound is not the route to decontaminant. 

Hobson and Snider (1992) evaluated the effectiveness of hypochlorite solutions in decontaminating rabbit intact skin and wounds exposed to VX or sulfur mustard. When the intact skin was decontaminated with bleach at 5% or 0.5% hypochlorite concentrations 1 min after sulfur mustard exposure, lesion areas were reduced by 4.6- and 4.3-fold, respectively. For VX-contaminated intact skin, 5% and 0.5% sodium hypochlorite increased the median lethal dose of VX by 19- and 16-fold, respectively. The results indicate that 0.5 % bleach is as effective as 5 % in decontaminating sulfur mustard and VX on intact skin. However, when VX was applied to a wound site, the 0.5% bleach was not effective in increasing survival rate, whereas 5% bleach increased the median lethal dose 2-fold. 

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