Деконтаминация человека: процессы и методы удаления опасных веществ.

Process of removing hazardous materials from the human body

Human decontamination is the process of removing hazardous materials from the human body, including chemicals, radioactive substances, and infectious material.

People suspected of being contaminated are usually separated by sex, and led into a decontamination tent, trailer, or pod, where they shed their potentially contaminated clothes in a strip down room. They then enter a wash down room where they are showered. Finally, they enter a drying and re robing room to be issued clean clothing, a jumpsuit, or other attire. Some more structured facilities include six rooms (strip down, wash down and examination rooms, for each of men's and women's side as per attached drawing). Some facilities, such as MODEC, and many others, are remotely operable, and function like "human car washes". Common lathering in soap, removes external dust that may contain radioisotopes. It is advised that when lathering, effort should be made not to spread potential dust that deposited onto exposed, unclothed areas of skin, to areas that were once likely clean. Mass decontamination is the decontamination of large numbers of people. The ACI World Aviation Security Standing Committee describes a decontamination process thus, specifically referring to plans for Los Angeles authorities:

Most hospitals in the United States are prepared to handle a large influx of patients from a terrorist attack. Volunteer hospital decontamination teams are common and trained to set up showers or washing equipment, to wear personal protective equipment, and to ensure the safety of both the victims and the community during the response. From a planning perspective it must be remembered that first responders in Level A or B personal protective equipment (PPE) will have a limited working duration, typically 20 minutes to 2 hours. Typically these teams use decontamination showers built into the hospital or tents which are set up outside in order to decontaminate individuals. Beyond terrorism incidents, common exposures may be related to factory spills, agricultural incidents, and vehicle accidents. Incidents are common in both urban and rural communities. Hospital decontamination is a component of the Hospital Incident Command System and is required in the standards set forth by the Joint Commission.

Collaboration among various levels of authority, and among various countries, is required to address bioterror threats, because contamination knows no boundaries. Disease and contamination do not stop at the border from one country to another. Thus organizations such as NATO, bring together member countries to practice how to contain an outbreak, setup quarantine facilities, and care for displaced persons.

Radioactive contamination can enter the body through ingestion, inhalation, absorption, or injection. This will result in a committed dose of radiation. For this reason, it is important to use personal protective equipment when working with radioactive materials. Radioactive contamination may also be ingested as the result of eating contaminated plants and animals or drinking contaminated water or milk from exposed animals. Following a major contamination incident, all potential pathways of internal exposure should be considered. Successfully used on Harold McCluskey, chelation therapy and other treatments exist for internal radionuclide contamination.