The Short-Term Effect of Mustard Gas on the Serum Immunoglobulin Levels

Mustard gas (mg), as a chemical warfar e agent was used by the iraqi army in iran-iraqco nflic t against mil itary men in the battl efi eld in 1985.t he se rum level s of igg, ig/ and 19m o f patients exposed to mg in th e battl efield weremeasured by sing le rad ial immunodi ffusion fro m da y 3 up to o ne month afte r ex posure tomg.the serum levels o f igg in pati ents sh owed signdica nt decr ease o n day 3 afte r e xp osureto mg. however, th e levels of igg in th e se rum samples co llec ted from th e pati ents during4-18 days after expo sure to mg were fou nd to increase. t he inc rease in serum igg levels inth e se ra of patients which were col lect ed d ur ing 19-31 d ays a fte r exposure to mg was foundto be highly s igni fica nt, surpass ing those from the co ntro ls, the level s of se ru m 19a inpati ents during o ne month a fte r ex posure to l'vig showed alte ra tio ns simila r to th o se o fser um igg , howeve r the se rum a lte ratio ns o f th e patien ts ig a, comparing to th o se o f th enormal controls we re not signifi can t. t he ser um lev el s of igm in pa tients did not sh owmarked alterations d uring one month a fte r exposure to mg comparing to those of th eno rm al controls.the initial decr ease in se rum levels of igg in pati ents is di scussed in term s o f a possibleleak age o f igg in to the skin bli sters an d in to o the r severe ly a ffec ted parts o f th e body su chas respirat ory sys tem, wh ereas th e sub seq ue nt in cr ease in se rum igg is interpreted as due to(auto) antigeni c stimulatio n of th e pa tie nts' immune sys tems.