What happens if you get hit by nuclear radiation?

What happens if you get hit by nuclear radiation?

Initial symptoms include nausea, vomiting, headache and diarrhoea. These symptoms can start within minutes or days after the exposure. People who have been exposed to high doses can also have skin damage ranging from itching to burns, blisters and ulcers. They may also have temporary hair loss.

How does nuclear radiation affect the human body?

As radioactive material decays, or breaks down, the energy released into the environment has two ways of harming a body that is exposed to it, Higley said. It can directly kill cells, or it can cause mutations to DNA. If those mutations are not repaired, the cell may turn cancerous.

What is the first sign of too much radiation?

The most common early symptoms of radiation sickness are the same as for many other illnesses — nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. They can start within minutes of exposure, but they may come and go for several days.

Is radiation damage reversible?

Radiation effects can be reversible since cells can repair damage and function normally. Therefore, harmful health effects might not be observed unless we are exposed to large doses of ionizing radiation.

How are people affected by a Nuclear Blast?

Those who look directly at the blast could experience eye damage ranging from temporary blindness to severe burns on the retina. Individuals near the blast site would be exposed to high levels of radiation and could develop symptoms of radiation sickness (called acute radiation syndrome, or ARS ).

What kind of diseases can be caused by radiation?

Other diseases associated with radiation exposure. VA recognizes that the following diseases are possibly caused by exposure to ionizing radiation during service: All cancers. Non-malignant thyroid nodular disease. Parathyroid adenoma. Posterior subcapsular cataracts.

How to survive radiation poisoning from a nuclear attack?

Lower doses (< 1.0) can cause nausea, vomiting, headaches, fever and fatigue. Higher amount of exposure (1.0-4.0 Gy) kills the blood cells. You can still survive, but the treatment process involves a series of blood transfusion and administering of antibiotics.

How many people would die in a nuclear attack?

In an all-out nuclear attack, most of the industrialized world would have been bombed back to the Stone Age, with hundreds of millions killed outright and perhaps as many as a billion or more dying of radiation, disease and famine in the postwar period.