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Recently, an ex-Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned in Salisbury, England using a Soviet nerve agent called Novichok. He joins a list of defectors and ex-spies who's poisoning have been connected to Russia.
Nerve agents are organophosphate compounds, similar to the commercially available pesticides, but significantly more potent. Nerve agents such as VX take seconds to minutes to irreversibly inhibit acetylcholinesterase by “aging” and result in clinical toxicity.
Signs and symptoms
- Muscarinic: DUMBELS or SLUDGE and Killer B's
- Nicotinic: muscle weakness & paralysis
Treatment
- Decontamination
- Atropine – 2 mg IV and double the dose every 3 – 5 minutes until clearing of bronchorrhea, bronchospasm and bradycardia
- Pralidoxime – reverses inhibition of acetylcholinesterases that are not aged