Army will help state find
source of auto-injectors
The Army has been unable to determine the source of anti-nerve gas injectors that were found by children Tuesday in a Waipahu stream, but Army officials said they will help the state contact the manufacturer.
Heather Paynter, Tripler Army Medical Center spokeswoman, said hospital records only go back three years and the injectors found by children had an expiration date of March 1993.
The state Health Department had turned to the Army for help after 12-year-old Trendon Amuzie accidentally stuck himself in the finger with the needle from a military auto-injector that his sister had found at a stream near Awanei Street.
Amuzie's hand became numb after the injection of atropine, which is used as an anti-nerve gas agent. He was taken to the St. Francis West Medical Center, where he was released without treatment. However the next day he was given a tetanus shot.
Paynter said yesterday that Tripler officials have been unable to trace the origin of 1 1/2 auto-injectors and more than three dozen syringes that were found by emergency cleanup crews.
Keith Kawaoka, manager of the Health Department's Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response Branch, said the next step will be to try to contact the manufacturer, which is believed to be based in St. Louis.
The company, Meridian Medical Technology, had 90 percent of the auto-injector market last year, according to the Motley Fool Web site.
Military officials here maintain that atropine auto-injectors are strictly controlled and never issued to any military personnel until they are deployed.
For security reasons both Tripler and Hickam Air Force Base would not say how many auto-atropine injectors they have. Paynter would say only, "We have a sufficient amount."
The Navy says about 350 atropine injectors are stocked in clinics at Makalapa and Kaneohe. Lt. j.g. Mike Morley, Pacific Fleet spokesman, said the two clinics began stocking the auto-injectors last October.
The Hawaii Army National Guard's 93rd Civil Support Team, which was created as part of the nation's anti-terrorism program, maintains about 22 injectors. The unit was one of the first to respond after Tuesday's discovery.
Atropine is standard military issue for soldiers in conflicts where they might be exposed to poison gas. Atropine blocks the body's absorption of nerve agents such as sarin and VX.
The Army says deployed soldiers are issued a Mark I kit, which they are supposed to have with them at all times. It consists of two spring-loaded devices to inject atropine and pralidoxime. The injectors are designed so the soldier can self-administer the antitoxin.
Nerve agents are some of the most deadly chemicals ever made. Just six milligrams of the nerve agent VX can kill a person. Another nerve agent, sarin, killed 12 people when it was released into a subway station in Tokyo on March 20, 1995.
For training purposes, however, soldiers are given Mark 1 kits without the needles, said Capt. Kathy Turner, 25th Division spokeswoman.
"We don't have any of them with the needles unless we deploy," Turner said.
Paynter said Tripler is the major repository of the Army's supply of live atropine injectors.
"We have a very strong accountability system," she said.
Atropine has many uses
Atropine, which affects the nervous system, may be used in prescription mixtures for the treatment of gastrointestinal disease, colds, hay fever, asthma and Parkinson disease.The chemical may also be used by soldiers in battle to counteract the effects of chemical nerve gas poisoning.
The fatality rate in cases of atropine poisoning is less than 1 percent, according to a state Department of Health fact sheet. A fatal dose of the chemical in children may be as low as 10 milligrams.
Some effects of atropine poisoning in toxic doses (5-10 milligrams) include hot, dry, red skin; disorientation; hallucinations; fever; convulsions; and coma.
Star-Bulletin staff
