Mild injuries consist of aching eyes with abundant flow of tears, inflammation of the skin, irritation of the mucous membrane, hoarseness, coughing and sneezing. Normally, these injuries do not require medical treatment. Severe injuries which are incapacitating and require medical care may involve eye injuries with loss of sight, the formation of blisters on the skin, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea together with severe respiration difficulty. A Baltic fisherman with a relatively fresh mustard agent injury. The photo was taken at Bornholm Hospital, Denmark, by Dr. Steen Christensen.
Acute mortality arising from exposure to mustard agent is low.
The dose needed to directly kill a person upon inhalation is, e.g., about 50 times larger than the dose giving acute mortality upon poisoning with the nerve agent soman. People who die after exposure to mustard agent usually do so after a few days up to one or more weeks. Minor skin damage may be caused by mustard agent in the gaseous state whereas the most severe injuries are caused after contact with liquid mustard agent. Skin damage first appears as a painful inflammation. In extreme cases, the skin necrosis may be so comprehensive that no blisters occur.