Further studies of the efficacy of military, commercial and novel skin decontaminants against the chemical warfare agents sulphur Mustard, Soman and VX.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Following an incident involving toxic chemicals, deployment of countermeasures before the arrival of specialised services at the scene may provide a "therapeutic" window in which to mitigate skin absorption.

METHODS

Five potential candidates (itaconic acid, N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide, 2-trifluoromethylacrylic acid, fuller's earth and Fast-Act®) previously found effective against a simulant (methyl salicylate) were evaluated against a 10 μL droplet of C-sulphur mustard (HD), soman (GD) or VX applied to the surface of porcine skin mounted on static skin diffusion cells.

RESULTS

All the decontaminants applied to the skin 5 min post exposure achieved a marked reduction in the amount of C contaminant remaining within the skin at 24 h. Itaconic acid significantly (p < .05) reduced the amount of C-HD, GD and VX remaining in the skin at 24 h. Additionally, 2-trifluoromethylacrylic acid significantly reduced the amount of C-HD, whilst fuller's earth significantly reduced the amounts of C-HD and VX recovered within the skin at 24 h.

CONCLUSION

All of the products evaluated in this study performed well in reducing the dermal absorption of all the chemical warfare agents tested.