How nerve gas destroys the body within minutes

Today it was confirmed that a former Russian spy and his daughter found slumped on a bench in Salisbury were poisoned by a nerve agent.

The grisly chemicals are a group of human-made substances that target part of the body’s nervous system to shut down its organs and overload the brain.

Death is certain in as little as 10 minutes unless an antidote is taken almost immediately after infection – but the minutes before are horrifying

The grisly effects of nerve agents include paralysis, foaming at the mouth, uncontrollable seizures and diarrhoea.

A nerve agent attack causes a disconnect between the brain and organs, causing your lungs to begin shutting down and triggering uncontrollable vomiting, diarrhoea, and frothing at the mouth. Pictured is a victim of a nerve agent attack in Damascus in 2013

Foaming at the mouth and nose

The first thing a nerve gas does is ramp up the amount of fluids produced by your mucous membranes.

Within seconds your mouth creates extra saliva, your eyes water, and your nose begins to run.

Shortly after the gas hits your nervous system, your pupils will become pinpricks as the toxins begin to attack your neurotransmitters. A nerve agent attack killed a number of children in Damascus in 2013

The production of fluids is so great that your nose and mouth may even start to create foam – a common symptom of Sarin gas.

Foaming and dripping is often the first thing medical professionals look for when diagnosing a nerve agent attack.

Pupils narrow to pinpricks

Shortly after the gas hits your nervous system, your pupils will become pinpricks as the toxins begin to attack your neurotransmitters.

Your eyes will not refocus, react to light, leaving you unable to see.

At higher doses, if the gas does not kill, victims can be permanently blinded by the attack.

Throughout the attack, a sharp pain persists for hours and even days, beginning within seconds of exposure. Pictured is a victim after an attack in Damascus in 2013

Today it was confirmed that a former Russian spy and his daughter found slumped on a bench in Salisbury were poisoned by a nerve agent. Pictured is a Tokyo Fire Department Haz-Mat team after the 1995 Tokyo subway Sarin attack, which killed 13 people

Lack of control over your body

Because they block chemicals that transmit signals in our nerves, nerve agents heavily affect how our brain communicates with our bodies.

The chemicals target the body’s cholinergic system.

This system is responsible for transferring messages from nerves to our organs, including the brain and lungs.

The chemicals lock the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, which breaks down a key messenger signal in our muscles that tells them to stop contracting.

Many of the symptoms are triggered by the brain losing control of the body’s various systems as it can no longer message them.

This means you’ll likely lose control of your body, and be unable to move.

Problems breathing

Various parts of the body malfunction as the muscles can not stop contracting.

This includes the lungs, which can not draw in or expel air properly without full function of the respiratory muscles.

An excess of mucous may also leak into your lungs and airway, which will make it difficult to get oxygen.

Paralysis

You could become completely paralysed and your organs will stop working properly. You’re likely to begin twitching and convulsing.

As you become paralysed, you may not be able to speak or react to anything that’s going on around you.

Nerve agents are a group of human-made substances that target part of the body’s nervous system to shut down its organs and overload the brain. In this image a mother and father weep over their child’s body, killed in a suspected nerve agent attack in Damascus in 2013

Chemical weapons that use nerve agents like tabun, sarin and VX are known to kill people with gruesome efficiency, with some proving fatal within minutes. Pictured is the aftermath of the 1995 Tokyo subway Sarin attack

Vomiting

The neurotransmitters building up in your body also affect the stomach, triggering profuse vomiting.

This symptom is also affected by the severe mucous build up experienced by victims.

Diarrhoea

You will urinate and defecate uncontrollably as your body attempts to get rid of the substance.

You’ll also suffer severe abdominal cramps.

In the case of the WAS nerve agent that was used on Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia Skripal, 33, Dr Chris Morris, Medical Toxicology Centre, Newcastle University says: ‘Some of the early acute effects could have been put down to food poisoning since vomiting, diarrhoea, and urinary incontinence occur (turning on all the taps is a phrase often used).’

WHAT ARE NERVE AGENTS AND WHAT IS THE ANTIDOTE? JUST 10MG OF THE HUMAN-MADE SUBSTANCES CAN KILL IN JUST 10 MINUTES

What are nerve agents?

Nerve agents are a group of human-made substances that target a certain part of the body’s nervous system.

Chemical weapons that use nerve agents like tabun, sarin and VX are known to kill people with gruesome efficiency.

Just 10mg of VX, for instance, can kill a human in just 10 minutes. A smaller dose can take up to an hour to be lethal.

Any nerve agent can affect a person through the skin, breathing, ingestion, or all three routes, depending on the substance and how it’s used.

Special bombs can weaponise the agents as a liquid, firing them out as a breathable gas.

What effect does it have on the body?

One of the most terrifying things about nerve agents is that you may never see, hear or smell them coming.

The first thing that will happen to you is your mucous membranes will go into overdrive.

This means your mouth will create more saliva, you’ll begin drooling, your eyes will begin to water and your nose will run. You’re likely to start foaming at the mouth.

Your pupils will then become pin pricks and won’t react to light. You may lose your vision entirely, or at the very least it will go blurry.

There will quickly be a major disconnect between your brain and your body. You won’t be able to move and may become paralysed.

You’ll find it hard to breathe and you are likely to vomit violently and begin to sweat all over.

You’ll have seizures, uncontrollable bowel movements, an erratic heart rate and excruciating pain all over.

This is because the chemicals lock the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, which breaks down a key messenger signal in our muscles that tells them to stop contracting.

This means the body’s muscles cannot relax, causing convulsions and death by asphyxiation due to a loss of control of the respiratory muscles.

The messenger chemical, known as acetylcholine, also builds up in the brain causing it to rapidly shut down.

At high enough doses a nerve agent can kill within 10 minutes.

What is the antidote?

Nerve agents are damaging to the human body because they cause a build-up of acetylcholine.

This causes constant triggering of the neurons and therefore, constant contraction of muscles.

These spasms can be treated with antidotes that shut-off acetylcholine receptors in the brain.

Usually, two antidotes (atropine and pralidoxime chloride) are used which interfere with the acetylcholine binding to the neuron receptors.

These antidotes work in the exact opposite way of anti-depressants which encourage the uptake of neurotransmitters through the synapse.

Chemicals like Prozac encourage neurons responsible for feelings of happiness (such as dopamine and serotonin) to be transmitted through these receptors.

To work, these drugs must be administered immediately – within minutes of exposure.

What happens if you are exposed to a nerve agent but don’t die?

People who have been exposed to very small levels may not die, but they will suffer life-long problems.

Previous research has revealed a bewildering array of debilitating conditions associated with nerve gas exposure including chronic fatigue, widespread pain, memory problems, skin rashes, gastrointestinal and respiratory difficulties.

Many of these problems can persist for decades.

Even at small doses, it is possible to suffer permanent severe nerve or brain damage. However, the exact long-term effects of nerve agents remain uncertain.

Seizures

One of the main symptoms of nerve gas exposure are terrifying and violent convulsions.

Unlike seizures in which the whole body moves at once, nerve gas seizures impacts your smooth muscle function.

This causes your body to spasm in individual parts – and you’ll have no control.

You’ll hurt all over

Your body will be in excruciating pain from muscle spasms and an inability to breathe.

You may also feel headaches, abdominal cramps, and a pain in your heart. You’ll feel this pain even if you’re paralysed.

You could be dead within 10 minutes

Just 10mg of VX can kill a human in just 10 minutes. A smaller dose can take up to an hour to be lethal.

Even with help and antidotes, you may only have minutes to fight for your life.

In this image a worker in protective clothing stands in a special storage area filled with M-55 rockets armed with sarin gas, a nerve agent, at an incinerator June 12, 1995 at the Tooele Army Depot, in Tooele, Utah as part of a government project to destroy the nation’s toxic arsenal

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