Abstract
Awareness and preparation by emergency medical responders for possible mass casualties from a toxic chemical release is an essential part of disaster response. Although individual poisoning and small-scale chemical incidents occur on a regular basis, large-scale releases are relatively uncommon and medical experience in managing casualties with toxic trauma is limited. A number of major chemical releases that have taken place over the past 100 years are considered in this chapter. These provide many lessons for those preparing for the management of toxic trauma. In addition, for planning a response, individual training, particularly in protection and application of medical knowledge from common medical conditions that mimic the effects of chemical agents, such as asthma and acute lung injury all contribute to building an effective response to mass chemical casualties, an occurrence, we must hope, will continue to be a rarity.
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Further Reading
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Baker, D. (2014). Preparing for Toxic Trauma. In: Toxic Trauma. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5598-0_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5598-0_10
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