Explosions found to cause serious lung problems
Brief high-level concentrations of nitrogen dioxide can cause lung edema; Walter Reed researchers may an experimental breakthrough
As if dying was not bad enough. A new report from the American Chemical Society finds that the survivors of battlefield and terrorist explosions can suffer serious lung problems from the inhalation of nitrogen dioxide gas. Earlier research had shown that long term exposure and low levels (such as from automobile exhausts) was hazardous, but this is the first finding related to brief, high-level exposures. “The experimental data showed that after exposure to high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide for only five minutes, the respiratory function was extremely changed,” said Dr. Zegfa Gu of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, referring to the rats on which the experiments were performed. “Breathing rate and depth were sharply inhibited; lung edema was rapidly induced, [and] acute and delayed lung damage occurred.” The research represents the first real-time measurements of breathing changes due to the inhalation of nitrogen dioxide gas — a breakthrough that required the Walter Reed researchers to design a special exposure chamber and computer software to make accurate measurements on living animals.
