Chemical warfare agents: II. Nerve agents

Nerve agents are highly potent and rapidly acting organophosphorus compounds that irreversibly bind and inactive acetylcholinesterase. Only rarely have they been used in warfare, but their great lethality and the threat that they pose have encouraged production and stockpiling in large quantities. They differ in a number of important ways from common agricultural organophosphate insecticides. In light of recent threats of chemical warfare and the possibilities of chemical acts of terrorism, North American physicians should be knowledgeable of the effects of these agents and the care of exposure victims.