Military and civilian burn injuries during armed conflicts

Burn injury is a ubiquitous threat in the military environment, and war burns have been described for more than 5,000 years of written history. Fire was probably utilized as a weapon long before that. With the ever-increasing destructive power and efficiency of modern weapons, casualties, both fatal and non-fatal, are reaching new highs, particularly among civilians who are becoming the major wartime targets in recent wars, accounting for most of the killed and wounded. Even though medical personnel usually believe that a knowledge of weaponry has little relevance to their ability to effectively treat injuries and that it may in some way be in conflict with their status, accorded under the Geneva and Hague treaties, it is imperative that they know how weapons are used and understand their effects on the human body. The present review explores various categories of weapons of modern warfare that are unfamiliar to most medical and paramedical personnel responsible for burn treatment. The mechanisms and patterns of injury produced by each class of weapons are examined so that a better understanding of burn management in a warfare situation may be achieved.