How is VX dispersed?
A person’s clothing can release VX after contact with VX vapor, which can lead to exposure of other people through contaminated clothing. Because VX breaks down slowly in the body, repeated exposures to VX and/or other nerve agents can build up in the body (have a cumulative effect).
How can nerve agents be disseminated?
Nerve agents are chemically similar to organophosphate pesticides and exert their effects by interfering with the normal function of the nervous system. METHODS OF DISSEMINATION: Indoor Air: Sarin can be released into indoor air as a liquid spray (aerosol) or as a vapor. Water: Sarin can contaminate water.
How is VX nerve agent detected?
A urine or blood sample can definitively determine whether a person was exposed to VX. Other nerve agents will cause similar damage to individuals. ▫ Other nerve agents will also cause symptoms within seconds of exposure to vapors and within minutes and up to 18 hours after exposure to liquid.
How is nerve agent transmitted?
How is it transmitted? Nerve agents can be odorless, tasteless, and colorless. They can come in many forms. Vapors can be easily inhaled from the air; some can be dissolved into water to make liquids that can be put on clothes and absorbed by the skin.
How do you neutralize VX gas?
Inside the reactor, the VX was hydrolyzed by adding a 200°F solution of water and sodium hydroxide. The empty ton containers were washed and decontaminated by using a high-temperature heat treatment. This treatment is similar to that used to destroy waste material at the incineration sites.
What smell does v agent VX give?
Nerve agents are generally colorless to amber-colored, tasteless liquids that may evaporate to a gas. Agents Sarin and VX are odorless; Tabun has a slightly fruity odor and Soman has a slight camphor odor.
How was VX gas discovered?
The chemical was invented in Britain during the 1950’s by a chemist called Ranaji Ghosh who was working for Imperial Chemical Industries. Inspired by a commercial pesticide, it was further tested by the British military, before being passed to US counterparts, who began full-scale production of VX in 1961.
How is VX gas destroyed?
What is the chemical name of the nerve agent VX?
VX is an extremely toxic synthetic chemical compound in the organophosphorus class, specifically, a thiophosphonate. In the class of nerve agents, it was developed for military use in chemical warfare after translation of earlier discoveries of organophosphate toxicity in pesticide research.
What is the pathophysiology of VX toxicity?
VX (nerve agent) VX fatalities occur with exposure to tens of milligram quantities via inhalation or absorption through skin; VX is thus more potent than sarin, another nerve agent with a similar mechanism of action. On such exposure, these agents severely disrupt the body’s signaling between the nervous and muscular systems,…
What is VX chemical warfare?
DESCRIPTION: VX is one of the nerve agents, which are the most toxic of the known chemical warfare agents. It is tasteless and odorless. Exposure to VX can cause death in minutes.
What is a V-series nerve agent?
Chemical form of the nerve agent VX. The V series of nerve agents. The V-series is the second family of nerve agents and contains five well known members: VE, VG, VM, VR, and VX, along with several more obscure analogues. The most studied agent in this family, VX, was invented in the 1950s at Porton Down in the United Kingdom.