Acute radiation syndrome

Acute radiation syndrome is triggered by acute, short-term irradiation with, for example, X-rays or gamma rays. It occurs rarely and mostly after industrial accidents, such as reactor disasters.

The victims are exposed to high-energy particle radiation. At the molecular level, this damages human DNA. If the radiation dose is low, the body can repair the damage by repair processes, with great radiation exposure, however, the cells are destroyed by apoptosis. Too much cell loss leads to the loss of important physical functions.

The course of the disease begins with the radiation hangover which manifests itself by nausea, vomiting, headache and exhaustion. Subsequently, those affected are in a latency phase with relative well-being.

After this phase, the actual symptoms appear. These include fever, infections, bleeding, hair loss, mouth and throat ulcers, cerebral edema and blood disorders. The severity of symptoms depends directly on the dose of radiation.

A radiation exposure of two to five Gray does not preclude a recovery of the patient. When irradiated to 30 Gray, patients die after about one to two weeks. If exposure is higher, death occurs immediately or within a few hours.

Surviving patients usually continue to suffer chronic late damage years after exposure.