Radiation disease: what is it, who is subject to symptoms, causes and treatment

Radiation disease is a terrible pathology that develops as a result of irradiation. Read the article about the causes and symptoms of this disease.

Content

In medicine, there is such a general disease that appears in the most important systems and human organs as a result of radioact. irradiation in the range, which exceeds normal dosages. It is called radiation disease. Such a pathology proceeds is difficult, affects blood, nervous, digestive, skin, endocrine, etc. The most important human systems.

Read on our website article about radioactive pollution of plant crops. You will learn what the danger is and is it true that there is radiation in bananas.

But according to the conclusions MKRZ/ICRP - an international independent and non -governmental organization for radiation protection, during the “transition” beyond the irradiation threshold more than 1.5 stars/year or one-time receipt of radio dose 0.5 stations It can develop radiation sickness. What it is? What are the symptoms, causes? Look for answers to these and other questions in this article. Read further.

What is a radiation disease?

Radiation disease is a complex of systemic clinical symptooms that appear under the influence of an excessive or constantly repeating ionizing radiation on a living being. This disease is sometimes incorrectly identified with a radiation reaction, which can be an undesirable effect of rades. therapy.

During their life, the living beings on our planet are constantly subjected to ionizir. irradiation in small doses, which originates from both natural and technogenic sources. The meager dosage of radiation enters the body through the lungs, when we inhale the air from the environment, as well as with water and food and simply accumulate in the organs of the body. The general dosage of ionizing radiation is often low and does not exceed the indicators in 1-3 MZV (MGR)/year.it the number is considered not exceeding the maximum permissible indicators for humans. All that is higher can be dangerous. Read further.

Causes of radiation disease

Reason development acute ray diseases Counted γ-neutron, x-ray and γ-, β-intensificationarising from a nuclear explosion, a change in the regime or violation of the rules of operation of nuclear-energy stationary plants.

Radiation lesions can appear in the body due to one (or short-term) period of irradiation of a large dose immediately or long irradiation with low radioactive doses. Radiation disease is the effectiveness of the process of damage that occurs at the level of cells and molecules in the body of a living creature. Due to the most complex bio-chemical reactions in the biological fluid, substances of pathological fat, carbohydrate, nitrogen, water-salt metabolism that cause a strong beam can be found. toxemia.

Who is at risk of developing radiation disease: radiation in Chernobyl, a photo of a person after manifestations of a nuclear disaster

Basically, specific people with certain professions are at risk of developing radiation disease - these are employees of the healthcare sector, especially those who are engaged in nuclear medicine. However, the risk group also includes people who are incorrectly treated with an X -ray tube, without observing appropriate precautions, or work with damaged equipment.

The disease can also be caused by taking the radioact. elements and isotopes, for example, as oral or inhalation route. In special cases, radiation disease can be caused by the use of nuclear weapons or the refusal of the reactor, as in Chernobyl at nuclear power plants. See how people suffer and how a person who has received a large dosage of radiation looks. Here is a photo of a person after the manifestations of a nuclear disaster:

Symptoms and signs of irradiation in a radiation disease

The symptoms of radiation in a radiation disease and its consequences are very different. They will depend on the absorbed dosage of radiation. The higher it is, the faster the symptoms appear - within a few hours, but no later than through 14-15 days. After irradiation. The symptoms of pathology include:

Bloody diarrhea
Swelling
Convulsions
Loss of consciousness
Violation of the water-electrolyte balance in the body

The sooner the symptoms develop, the harder the course of the disease. In acute course, the patient often dies.

Read on our website an article on the topic "Radiation around us" with arguments and facts.

Classification - characterize the existing degrees, stages of severe, acute radiation disease: radiation doses

There is some classification in the stage of acute radiation disease. Let's describe the existing degrees. Here is a list with doses:

Severe, enzymatic (radiation dose causing disease: more than 50 g):

The patient's instant death occurs shortly after losing consciousness as a result of the rupture of chemical bonds of enzymatic proteins.

Cerebral (approximate dose of radiation: 8-50 gr):

Although this form of radiation disease is least known, it is also the fastest growing.
At the same time, patients often have convulsions and loss of consciousness immediately after irradiation, as well as respiratory failure, high temperature, watery diarrhea and cardiogenic-hypovolemic shock.
This leads to a sharp drop in pressure and, as a result, to hypoxia of organs, including the brain.
Complications associated with the cardiovascular system cause cerebral edema and an increase in intracranial pressure.
In this form, mortality is almost 100%, and death most often occurs within 2-3 days after irradiation.

Intestinal (radiation dose: 4-8 gr):

It manifests itself with bloody diarrhea, anemia and intestinal obstruction.
In this case, hemorrhagic diathesis is also found, which is characterized by an increased tendency to bleeding (often abundant), traumatic or spontaneous.
There is also acute renal failure and sepsis.
With a high radiation dose, the patient is subjected to irreversible damage to the gastrointestinal tract as a result of the LCD syndrome. Mortality in this form 50-100%.

Hematological (radiation dose: 2-4g):

In this case, general weakness, shortness of breath and dizziness, anemia, hemorrhagic diathesis, thrombocytopenia and lymphopenia occur.
All this can lead to various kinds of serious infections, including sepsis.
The mortality of patients with this form is about 25%.

Subclinical (radiation dose is approximately: 0.5-2 gr):

When the patient has a total weakness and a decrease in the number of lymphocytes in the blood (lymphopenia), this leads to a significant decrease in immunity.
In this form, the risk of death is much lower.

Periods of radiation disease - 1, 2, 3 and 4 form: List

There are also such forms or periods of radiation disease - a list:

In addition to the acute stage of radiation disease, there is a chronic one. How it differs, read on.

Chronic stage of radiation disease: when does it occur?

This term is used to describe distant radiation effects, that is, from several to several years after irradiation. Chronic radiation disease contributes to the development of hormonal disorders, cataracts, infertility and malignant neoplasms, accelerated the aging of the body and damage to the genome of germ cells (which increases the risk of congenital defects in offspring)

Ionizing radiation - what is harmful: why is radiation disease developing?

Ionizing radiation - This is a stream ray energy that is formed during the decay reactions of radioactive substances. As mentioned above, people are constantly exposed to natural sources of ionizing radiation:

The soil
Water
Plants

We are also exposed to artificial sources:

X -ray radiation
Medical devices

The fact is that in the beauty salons, for example, during the laser depilation procedure this type of radiation acts. We perform an X -ray 1 time in 2 years, and the dose of influence on the apparatus is scanty, especially on modern digital - 0.05 mZv/procedure. Laser depilation equipment gives radiation at the same or even less dose, but the cosmetologist can prescribe the depilation procedure not one, but 2 or 3 times.

The essence of the harmfulness of radiation is a series of chemical changes in water in the tissues. From the point of view of our body, these are huge changes, because the water is about 60% the whole human body. As a result of damage to molecules, various types of genetic mutations or even cell necrosis also appear.

Treatment of radiation disease

Treatment of radiation disease depends on its type. For example, with intestinal form it is necessary to carry out parenteral nutrition. This is important not to annoy the digestive tract and give it the opportunity to recover. In the hematological form, grave drugs, antibiotics, antifungal and antiviral drugs, as well as drugs aimed at stimulating the process of bone marrow homeostasis are used.

During recovery, it is recommended to use drugs to restore systemic homeostasis. Effective treatment of all forms of radiation disease has not yet been developed, so the method is usually selected based on a specific course of the disease.

Prevention of radiation disease

Preventive measures against radiation disease are in the protection and installation of barriers for those parts of the body surface that are caused by irradiation. Doctors prescribe medications that will help reduce the sensitivity of systems and organs to radioact sources. radiation. People who are at risk are drank courses vitamin B6, s, p or receive treatment in injections or capsules, and anabolic hormonal agents.

The most effective preventive measure is to take radioprotectors, which are chemical protective compounds, but have a large number of side effects.