You are participating in international relief efforts abroad as a result of natural disasters. Patients come in with multiple exposures. Those who've been exposed within several hours present with anorexia, apathy, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, tachycardia, and headache. Some people die immediately from fever, hypotension, coma, and severe vomiting. Others present with neurologic deficits and have disorientation, confusion, loss of balance, seizures, papilledema, ataxia, and decreased reflexes.Those who were exposed 5 days ago have crampy abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and GI bleed. In weeks to months, patients expect neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and anemia.
Challenge: What was the exposure?
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Radiation. Sounds like ARS to me.
ReplyDeleteexactly right
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The image shows a woman distributing iodine to protect the thyroid of workers exposed to radiation. Acute radiation syndrome in various clinical manifestations is described here.
Sources: UpToDate; Wikipedia.