U.N. presses health button as Syrian chemical attack crisis strikes

The growing concern over the Syrian crisis has now taken a health turn as the U.N.’s health agency has rushed out new guidelines on Tuesday for treating the victims of the chemical weapons attack that was carried out in the war torn nation.

The new guidelines according to the World Health Organization (WHO) are meant to help health workers who are treating victims of chemical warfare agents like the one that was carried out in the suburbs of Damascus on Aug 21st. The new guidelines Improve on earlier information that was provided by WHO which includes more specific information and better work flow for medical workers to follow.

The WHO has three staff members in the U.N.’s chemical inspection team in Syria.

Spokesman Glenn Thomas said, “We did rush this out, given the interest and concern about what's been happening.” These guidelines according to him would evolve as they seem to have a better understanding of the risks.

The guidelines have listed the signs and symptoms of the exposure to chemical wafare agents, these are nerve agents such as tabun, sarin or VX, blister agents such as mustard gases and lewisite, cyanide and incapacitating agents such as agent BZ. The guidelines also cover regarding riot control agents such as tear gas and other toxic chemicals including chlorine, phosgene and thallium.

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