What is a nerve agent and how does it work?

[pbmus]

What is a nerve agent?
A nerve agent works by interrupting the messaging from the brain down into the muscles.

Sky News Science and Medical Correspondent Thomas Moore says: "In essence the nerves fire too much too quickly, they become tired and the muscles stop working."

What are the symptoms?
The victims of this suspected poisoning had difficulty breathing, and were described by witnesses as "wheezing".

They were discovered unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury Maltings shopping centre vomiting, twitching and "slumped" together.

The victims remain in a critical condition in quarantine in hospital.

https://news.sky.com/story/what-is-a-nerve-agent-and-how-does-it-work-11280206

[Lee-Lee]

1. Yep. Nasty stuff

There are a ton of different variations.

Some are persistent and will linger in an area when released for days or longer.

Some are non-persistent and start degrading as soon as exposed to air so they kill anyone there and then leave the area safe for anyone else a short while later.

It can take as little as a drop the size of a pinhead to be fatal in some cases.

[Leghorn21]

6. Lee-Lee, how is it that the policeman who tended to them is now seriously ill as well? May I

assume the poison was in a powder or a gaseous state, since he did not (most likely) ingest any?

And that makes me wonder now, why didn’t other first responders become ill, as did that first policeman?

[Lee-Lee]

9. I havent read the specifics

But if the policeman that responded showed symptoms but subsequent responders didn’t that would tend to point to some sort of non-persistent agent that dissipated in the time between. Or he could have had the bad luck to touch their skin or clothing in a more contaminated spot, especially since the paramedics probably had gloves on and he did not.

That is my guess from a limited amount of Army NBC training and police hazmat training anyway.

[Leghorn21]

10. Many thanks for your reply, Lee-Lee, truly...this is a huge story that is getting lost in the

chaotic fireworks over here...at any rate, I so appreciate your reply!!

[northoftheborder]

2. horrifying

[jberryhill]

3. Sean Hannity

He gets on everyone's nerves.

[lunasun]

4. Somehow the police officer who found them is in the worse condition of all 3 at the hospital

Did he do cpr or resuscitate ? Scary

[Hortensis]

8. I'm sorry to hear about him. Hope public outrage

empowers government action.

[SeattleVet]

5. Essentially, they are 'Raid' for people.

Different agents work differently. Some are organophosphate based. When I was in the Air Force we were issued atropine autoinjectors in case of exposure to nerve agents. Atropine is also what would be used in cases of insecticide poisoning (Raid used to have it listed on the back of the can).

[Hortensis]

7. There's a secret facility near the former infamous Lubyanka Prison

where the Russian government/Putin reportedly experiments in the development of new, exotic poisons.

Putin is reportedly especially fond of using poisons to make public object lessons of people he feels have betrayed him/Russia. People who only get in the way, such as political opponents, may just be imprisoned; and/or have everything they have, including reputations, taken away; or (as that woman in jail in Thailand fears) may occasionally turn up dead. But "betrayal" is considered unforgivable and in need of special, public treatment.