Guidelines for Mass Casualty Decontamination during a Terrorist Chemical Agent Incident

The Mass Casualty Decontamination Research Team (MCDRT) collectively addressed the issue of how to effectively decontaminate large numbers of people. Emphasis was placed on decontamination methods that could be performed with equipment and expertise readily available to most responder jurisdictions. The general principles identified to guide emergency responder policies, procedures, and actions after a chemical agent incident were: Expect at least a 5:1 ratio of unaffected-to-affected casualties; Decontaminate victims as soon as possible; Disrobing is decontamination; head to toe, more removal is better; Generally, water flushing is the best mass decontamination method; After a known exposure to liquid chemical agent, emergency responders should be decontaminated as soon as possible to avoid serious effects. --Original contains color plates: All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.