Radiation Sickness

After the earthquake and tsunami disaster that gripped Japan on 11 March 2011, Japanese continue to live in fear as on 12 March 2011 an explosion and radiation leakage has been confirmed at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant.

And as the condition getting worse following an explosion on Monday at one reactor and then an early morning explosion on Tuesday, the world become worried too, after all a nuclear radiation in this big of a scale is not something you can take lightly.

Radiation sickness or radiation poisoning is illness and symptom resulting from excessive exposure to radiation. Exposure may be accidental or intentional (as in radiation therapy). The term is generally used to refer to acute problems caused by large dosage of radiation in short period, though this also has occurred with long term period. The clinical name for radiation sickness is Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) as described by Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Aside from causing immediate death after the exposure, radiation exposure can also increase the probability of developing some other disease, mainly cancer, tumors and genetic damage.

Symptoms of radiation sickness are bleeding from the nose, mouth, gums and rectum, bloody stool, bruising, dehydration, diarrhea, fainting, fatigue, hair loss, inflammation of exposed areas (redness, tenderness, swelling, bleeding), mouth ulcers, nausea and vomiting, open sores on the skin, skin burns (redness or blistering), sloughing of skin, ulcers in esophagus, stomach or intestines, vomiting blood, weakness.

There are ways to prevent radiation exposure or sickness; we are advised to wear protective shields, especially if we live close the source of radiation, do not remain in the area where exposure occurred, in case you are contaminated, handled the affected area gently, do not remain in contaminated clothing, and do not hesitate to seek emergency medical treatment immediately. Your doctor will advice you how best to treat these symptoms. Medications may be prescribed to help reduce nausea, vomiting and pain. Blood transfusions may be given for anemia, and antibiotics are used to prevent or fight infections.