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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