Dirty Bomb Explosion? Researchers Determine that Children and Adults Would Need Different Treatment

Since a child's body is still developing, it would respond to radiation exposure differently than the adult body. Researchers recently announced that if a dirty bomb were to explode, the medical care and treatment that children would require would be different than the medical care that adults would require. Medical professionals should be prepared to give different treatment to children than the treatment that would be given to adults.

After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. government has increased its funding to more adequately ascertain the full extent of health risks that would be caused by a dirty bomb. Researchers from the University of Rochester were one of several universities that have been investigating the impact of radiological events.

Dirty bombs are designed specifically to generate a large amount of debris that is radioactive. Scientists believe that gamma rays and alpha and beta particles would likely be released. Gamma rays, alpha and beta particles have the capability to destroy lung and intestine cells, especially when someone inhales them or ingests them.

Researchers used mice and exposed them to radiation to simulate a dirty bomb explosion. They discovered that while the radiation level was the same, the bodies of juvenile mice responded differently to this exposure than the bodies of adult mice. They plan to continue their research so that medical personnel can be better prepared to treat children in the event that a dirty bomb explosion occurs.

They also plan to expand their investigation to include possible differences in how exposure to a dirty bomb affects humans and animals. In 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion affected both humans and animals. Cows continued to graze in fields that suffered contamination from the Chernobyl explosion. Many of the children who drank milk from the cows that grazed in contaminated fields developed cancer later in life.