Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism: TICs & TIMs

Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism
Training Support Package
Participant Guide
Slide 27
Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism:
TICs & TIMs
Case 3: A Gas Smell
• A gas odor is noted in a school classroom
• The teacher complains of headache, nausea, shortness of
breath and dizziness
• 80 students, 19 staff, 1 family member go to the ED
– 38 hospitalized for unclear reasons
• Scene investigation: no environmental cause
– 5 days later school reopened
• 71 people return to the ED for similar symptoms
• Exhaustive investigation: no environmental cause
Module One – Observed Behaviors during Mass Chemical Exposures
27
The last case we will discuss highlights some of the difficulties in ruling-out a toxic
exposure and the resulting problems that situation creates. In November 1998, a teacher
at the Warren County High School in McMinnville, Tennessee noticed a "gasoline-like"
smell in her classroom, and soon thereafter she had a headache, nausea, shortness of
breath, and dizziness. The school was evacuated, and 80 students and 19 staff
members went to the emergency room at the local hospital; 38 persons were
hospitalized overnight. An investigation did not identify any problems with spills, gas
leaks or the like; and the school was reopened. However, symptoms reoccurred.
Despite several intensive investigations, no contamination or toxin was identified.
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