CHEMICAL WARFARE - NERVE AGENT POISONING

Nerve agents are organophosphate anticholinesterases that have command ed a great deal of media attention in the past decade. The general med ia community itself has limited experience with these agents, but the recent experience in Japan points out that intensivists may be confron ted with large numbers of civilian casualties from nerve agent exposur e. The purpose of this article is to provide a general review of the h istory, chemical properties, pathophysiology, and treatment of nerve a gent poisoning. The article discusses the four main nerve agents: tabu n, sarin, soman, and VX.