Advice on assistance and protection provided by the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons: Part 1. On medical care and treatment of injuries from nerve agents

The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has provided advice on assistance and protection in relation to the Chemical Weapons Convention. In this, the first of several papers describing the SAB's work on this topic, we describe advice given in response to questions from the OPCW Director-General in 2013 and 2014 on the status of available medical countermeasures and treatments to organophosphorus nerve agents. This paper provides the evidence base for this advice which recommended to the OPCW pretreatments, emergency care, and long-term treatments that were available at the time of the request for this class of chemical warfare agent (CWA). It includes a bibliography of over 140 scientific references, which can be used as a platform for watching future medical countermeasure developments. The information provided in this paper should serve as a valuable reference for medical professionals and emergency responders who may have no knowledge of the symptoms and treatment options of exposure to nerve agents. Fil: Timperley, Christopher M.. Defence Science and Technology Laboratory; Reino Unido Fil: Forman, Jonathan E.. OPCW Scientific Advisory Board Secretary and Science Policy Adviser; Países Bajos Fil: Abdollahi, Mohammad. Tehran University Of Medical Sciences; Irán Fil: Al-Amri, Abdullah Saeed. Saudi Basic Industries Corporation; Arabia Saudita Fil: Baulig, Augustin. Secrétariat Général de la Défense et de la Sécurité Nationale; Francia Fil: Benachour, Djafer. Ferhat Abbas University, Setif-1; Argelia Fil: Borrett, Veronica. Bai Scientific; Australia. University of Melbourne; Australia Fil: Cariño, Flerida A.. University of the Philippines; Filipinas Fil: Geist, Michael. Basf Se; Alemania Fil: Gonzalez, David. Universidad de la República Facultad de Química; Uruguay. Universidad de la República; Uruguay Fil: Kane, William. Monsanto Company; Estados Unidos Fil: Kovarik, Zrinka. Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health; Croacia Fil: Martínez Álvarez, Roberto. Universidad Complutense de Madrid; España Fil: Mourão, Nicia Maria Fusaro. ABIQUIM; Brasil Fil: Neffe, Slawomir. Military University of Technology; Polonia Fil: Raza, Syed K.. Institute Of Pesticide Formulation Technology (ipft); India Fil: Rubaylo, Valentin. State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology; Rusia Fil: Suarez, Alejandra Graciela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Química Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Química Rosario; Argentina Fil: Takeuchi, Koji. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology; Japón Fil: Tang, Cheng. National Defence University; China Fil: Trifirò, Ferruccio. Universidad de Bologna; Italia Fil: van Straten, Francois Mauritz. South African Nuclear Energy Corporation SOC Ltd; Sudáfrica Fil: Vanninen, Paula S.. Helsingin Yliopisto; Finlandia Fil: Vucinic, Slavica. Vojnomedicinska Akademija; Serbia Fil: Zaitsev, Volodymyr. Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro; Brasil. Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv; Ucrania Fil: Zafar Uz Zaman, Muhammad. National Engineering And Scientific Commission (nescom); Pakistán Fil: Zina, Mongia Saïd. Université de Tunis El Manar, Faculté Des Sciences de Tunis; Túnez Fil: Holen, Stian. Opcw Scientific Advisory Board Secretary; Países Bajos