Zhivago wrote:morepork wrote:Zhivago wrote:
I would like to add a further point after some more research... so agents such as A-232 are supposedly more deadly than any others, e.g. soman... I have found some data regarding the rate of aging of soman-bound-AChE... and it's only 13% reactivation at time zero, and 0% at 50mins. So a full recovery would be remarkably strange... in fact it does not make sense.
That is only if assuming the route of administration distributes the agent sufficiently to bind to a threshold level of all available cholinesterase and that blocking agents were not taken prior to exposure.
A fair point.
It was sufficient to incapacitate though, doesn't that indicate a rather high amount of AChE bound by the agent?
It depends on factors such as time and environment. Chemicals delivered directly from a warhead, for example, will be very potent and will incapacity/kill quickly. Most chemical weapons don't do well when left outdoors for a prolonged period, so their lethality will degrade. However, if chemicals are present on objects with less exposure (the underside of a door handle for example) then hey will last longer, but the quantities may be limited.
So the effects on the victim will depend on the amount of chemicals, how long its been exposed, the amount that is contacted by the skin. Investigators found trace elements in a number of places through Salisbury, but given that no one else has been reported ill they would be trace amounts consistent with it being spread from the hand of a victim.
If the chemical was administered by a small amount placed on the door handle, then its likely that by the time the victims had contact it had degraded to a point where it was no longer instantaneously lethal. Which would explain why they were able to function for an hour to 90 minutes before collapsing.
That would be consistent with training provided to military personnel on CBRN issues where specific warnings are given if a chemical agent is suspected that areas of the ground which are less exposed may still be more contaminated than other areas.