Biomonitoring of exposure to chemical warfare agents

Abstract

An overview is presented of the major methods that are presently available for biomonitoring of exposure to chemical warfare agents, i.e., nerve agents and sulfur mustard. These methods can be applied for a variety of purposes such as diagnosis and dosimetry of exposure of casualties, verification of nonadherence to the Chemical Weapon Convention, health surveillance, assessment of low level exposures (Gulf War Syndrome) and last but not least for forensic purposes in case of terrorist attacks with these agents. This paper will focus on methods that are based on the analysis of long-lived protein adducts of CW agents which are detectable weeks or even months after exposure. Examples of real exposure incidents will be described. © 2006 Springer.