Weapons of mass destruction and their effects on animals

Abstract

Unfortunately, in the 21st century, humanity is pondering the devastating consequences that weapons of mass destruction can inflict on us. The reason for this is the inevitable severe damage to animals and people in this case and the first steps of medical care that must be provided to the victims. Weapons of mass destruction are nuclear, chemical, and biological, each of which has uniquely harmful effects on macro-organisms and the environment. The result of a nuclear explosion is radioactive pollution of the environment and the occurrence of radiation sickness in animals under the influence of radionuclides. The nuclear wave causes injuries and burns in animals of varying degrees of complexity and localization. Xenobiotics, as a quick-acting chemical weapon, cause skin-burning (moisture, nitrogen mustard, lewisite), nerve-paralytic (zoman, sarin, V-gases (Vx-gases), suffocating (phosgene, diphosgene, triphosgene, thiophosgene, chlorine), general poisoning (hydrocyanic acid and chlorocyanine) and irritating (chloroacetophenone, Ci-Es (CS), Ci-Ap (СR), adamsite) effects on macroorganisms with specific clinical manifestations. The characteristic of substances with a skin-irritating effect is the ability to affect the skin by forming blisters and ulcers, which are difficult to treat. Disorders of the functions of the nervous system, muscle spasms, and paralysis are characteristic clinical signs of exposure to nerve-paralytic substances. Suffocating xenobiotics causes pulmonary edema and respiratory arrest, and overall tissue respiratory depression. Irritation of the eyes with subsequent development of conjunctivitis and upper respiratory tract with the rapid development of edema is characteristic of substances with an irritating effect. In most cases, each chemical compound received its name after the developer’s name. Most of them were first used in the First World War. Most of the xenobiotics mentioned above are prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.