Enemy gas attacks : notes prepared for the Minister of Health and the Secretary of State for Scotland on the diagnosis and treatment of casualties.

Date:
1941?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Enemy gas attacks : notes prepared for the Minister of Health and the Secretary of State for Scotland on the diagnosis and treatment of casualties. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Zz When possible bleach ointment or paste or Anti-gas Ointment No. 2 should then be applied to the skin. The next indication is the earliest possible removal of con- taminated clothes and footwear and free washing with soap and water. Treatment of the eyes, if affected, should always be given preference over treatment of the skin. It should include immediate and free irrigation with water. To prevent secondary conjunctival infection, the instil- lation of Albucid Soluble in a 2+5 per cent. solution, four times daily is recommended. Later, Atropine, I per cent. in ointment or in drops, may be used to counteract the pain of ciliary spasm. Liquid paraffin drops to prevent sticking of the lids may be employed after 12 hours. Cocaine preparations and bandaging of the eyes must on no account be allowed. Eye-shades may be used in the early stages. Blisters should be aspirated with a hypodermic needle and syringe. For open skin lesions, after the stage of profuse exudation the recognised surgical treatments for ordinary burns should be employed. Laryngitis and tracheitis should be treated with steam inhalations. Bronchitis and bronchopneumonia should be treated on general principles; it is possible that sulphapyridine may prove valuable in preventing the latter. In the last war there was a high incidence of functional sequelae, including photophobia and _ blepharospasm, aphonia and vomiting. Early reassurance as to the unlikelihood of blindness, discountenancing a too pro- longed use of eye-shades, etc., may play an important part in treatment. Once the early essential treatment has been given mustard gas casualties may be safely evacuated to a distance as stretcher or sitting cases according to thety severity. In the case of patients severely injured as well as contaminated with mustard gas, elaborate washing, etc., will clearly be out of the question, but the clothes should be cut off as quickly as possible and local eye and skin contamination dealt with as effectively as the con- dition of the patient may allow. The order of urgency in such cases is (i) removal of outer garments and shoes ; (ii) methods directed towards saving life and treating shock; ({iii) saving the eyes; (iv) cleansing the skin. 6. Another vesicant gas is LEWISITE. It is also a lung irritant, a nose irritant and a tear gas. 7. EARLY SYMPTOMS. Lewisite is the more readily recognised on account of its early effects on the upper respiratory tract. When present in large quantity on the skin it can be absorbed and cause severe general and visceral symptoms oi arsenical poisoning.
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