[IWAR] JAPAN nerve gas effects

From: 7Pillars Partners (partnersat_private)
Date: Wed Jan 21 1998 - 15:09:42 PST

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    Balance Problem In Nerve Gas Survivors
    
       NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Survivors of the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on a
       Tokyo subway have subtle long-term damage to part of the brain that
       controls balance, a new study suggests. What's more, only female victims
       of the nerve gas attack seem to affected, not males.
       
       Women tested six to eight months after the March 20, 1995 incident were
       found to be more likely to sway back and forth while standing on a
       platform compared with other women their same age. The increased swaying
       was seen when body displacement was measured as the women stood quietly
       with eyes open or closed for 60 seconds on a platform, according to the
       report in the Journal of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
       
       In contrast, sarin-exposed men seemed to have no balance problems
       compared with their peers not exposed to nerve gas, according to
       researchers from University of Tokyo and St. Luke's International
       Hospital in Tokyo. The study included nine men and nine women of the
       5,500 people poisoned during the incident, a terrorist act linked to the
       Aum Shinrikyo Cult.
       
       The men and women appeared to have equal exposure to the nerve gas, and
       had a variety of symptoms when first hospitalized, including shortness
       of breath, headache, nausea, weakness, and double vision. The
       researchers studied balance because poisoning with organophosphate
       pesticides, chemically similar to sarin, can affect balance.
       
       "This study suggests a subclinical delayed effect of sarin," wrote lead
       study author Dr. Kazuhito Yokoyama of the University of Tokyo. "However,
       because the study was based on only nine male and nine female subjects,
       a study on a larger number of Tokyo Subway Sarin poisoning cases will be
       necessary to confirm the findings." SOURCE: Journal of Occupational and
       Environmental Medicine (1998;40:17-21)
    



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