Overview on Analysis of Free Metabolites for Detection of Exposure to Chemical Warfare Agents

Chemical warfare agents (CWA’s) induce complex toxicological effects with major adverse consequences for those exposed. For many chemical agents there is a need for research and development of analytical toxicological methods for a rapid and certain confirmation of those exposures. The certain methods will help for establishing the laboratory diagnosis for applying the proper therapy; the treatment of only contaminated people, decreasing the stress level in the medical community in management of crisis situations, increasing the survival rate of the population exposed to the contamination, supervision of professional exposure, judicial analysis in case of suspicious terrorist activities. The paper presents some analytical toxicological methods for detection, identification and confirmation of metabolites from urine samples, based on the metabolism/hydrolysis processes of CWA’s.