[Late lesions due to poison gas in survivors of the Iraqi poison warfare against the Kurdish people].

The purpose of this contribution was to demonstrate the extent of destruction of the human being by toxic war gases especially mustard gas. In spite of being several kilometers away from the scene of explosion, the surviving patients showed different residual symptoms of poison gas effects especially within the range of the skin, the eyes and the respiratory tract. There has been no effective treatment of these lesions found till nowaday and there would be perhaps none in a near future. No pathogenic organism already known could ever give rise to such destruction of the organism within a very short time. To make a comparison, the epidemic plague of 1349 (also called the huge plague year) should be mentioned here. It claimed 800 victims daily in Paris, whereas the disastrous event in the city of Halabja caused the death of 5000 people within less than 10 minutes. That is to say 8 times more than the daily victims of one of the last big epidemics of the middle ages. It is hopeless to assume that the production of these and similar destructive agents in the long run will be terminated. It is to be hoped however, that this horrible weapon never be delivered to persons who make use of it unscrupulously, as is already happened with the Kurdish people in Iraq.