Clinical symptoms and complications in Iranian troops wounded by chemical weapons [Babol Shahid Yahyanejad Hospital; 2001-2003]

ABSTRACT

During the Iran-Iraq imposed war, many of Iranian troops were exposed to chemical weapons and now after years of ending the war, many of them are suffering from the outcome of this lethal agent exposure. The purpose of this study was to assess late skin lesions in these individuals. This descriptive study was performed on 198 troops wounded by chemical weapons who were referred to Yahyanejad hospital by Babol Bonyad Janbazan organization. All patients were asked to answer the questions about their diseases and then clinical examinations for skin lesions were recorded and analyzed. All patients complained of skin problems and the most common complaint was pruritus [90.3%]. In clinical examination, the erythema was the most common skin lesion and a skin lesion was seen in 89.9% of the patients. Anterior trunk was the most frequently involved site [33.8%] and the most common disease was chronic urticaria [27.2%].The results show skin lesion due to by chemical weapons may continue overtime. However these complications are not considered as a serious danger to patients' health but they need to be treated