The toxicology of zinc chloride smoke producing bombs and screens

Abstract

Intoxication with clinical signs mainly took place in war situations and in military and fire emergency training sessions in enclosed spaces. Symptoms follow a biphasic course mainly characterised by dyspnoea, coughing and lacrimation, related to irritation of the airways in the first six hours, followed by reappearance of early signs complemented with inflammation related signs and tachycardia from 24 h onwards. Acute respiratory stress syndrome developed in severely affected individuals. Chest radiographs did not always correspond with clinical symptoms. Common therapy comprises corticosteroids, antibiotics and supplemental oxygen or positive pressure ventilation in 64% of the cases. Of the 31 patients included, eight died, three had permanent lung damage and 15 showed complete recovery, whereas in five patients outcome was not reported. Early signs likely relate to caustic reactions in the airway lining, whereas inhaled ZnCl particles may trigger an inflammatory response and associated delayed fibrotic lung damage. Smoke bomb poisoning is a potentially lethal condition that can occur in large cohorts of victims simultaneously.

Zinc associated nanomaterials and their intervention in emerging respiratory viruses: Journey to the field of biomedicine and biomaterials

“…For dermal toxicity, the small quantity of information available for Zn for the bulk is not correlated with significant adverse events; however, it has been observed that ZnO NPS can be overused through makeup, sunscreen, and ointments, having an LD50 greater than 2000 mg/kg per body weight [223] , [224] , [225] , [226] . Inhalational toxicity can vary reliant on the compound involved and the duration of the exposure; for example, individuals who breathe Zn-containing smoke (ZnCl 2 and/or ZnO), mostly from industrial processes or military activities, can ultimately experience an acute condition of ARDS-like [227] . The permissible exposure limit in the workplace is 5 mg/m 3 for ZnO [228] .…”

Pulmonary delivery of resveratrol-β-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes for the prevention of zinc chloride smoke-induced acute lung injury

“…The great release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and apoptosis were the results of ZnCl 2 smoke exposure (El Idrissi et al., 2017 ). Inflammation and apoptosis further strengthen ALI/ARDS (Vadász & Sznajder, 2017), resulting in serious damage of pulmonary blood vessels, increased permeability, and a large amount of plasma proteins and active substances infiltrating to the interstitium and alveoli of the lung (Yoneshige et al., 2015 ).…”

A Case of Smoke Bomb-induced Acute Lung Injury

“…pletely recovered soon after the administration of methylprednisolone (125 mg/day for 3 days) and subsequent oral prednisolone (30 mg/day for 5 days) (Picture 2). Zinc chloride-based smoke bombs are used in fire and military drills, but a few cases of acute respiratory failure during a fire-fighting drill have been reported (1,2). Physicians should keep in mind that acute respiratory failure can occur even 24 hours after toxic gas inhalation.…”