What is radiation sickness?

Answer 1

What is radiation sickness?

The illness takes different forms depending on the degree of exposure.

Exposure to up to twenty times the annual background dose of radiation received by the average American would have no discernible effect.

Up to 400 times the annual background dose would cause mild changes in the composition of the human blood and some temporary nausea or vomiting.
Up to 1,000 times the annual background dose would cause nausea, vomiting, hair loss, reduced immune system function, and serious blood disease.

Still higher doses—such as those that would hit unshielded workers inside a catastrophically sabotaged nuclear reactor—could cause severe dehydration, anemia, hemorrhaging, and infections. Such doses would kill 80 percent to 100 percent of the people exposed.

What radiation does is cause atoms to loose electrons, being ionized. if this happens in a body, these ions can do damage in cells. If only a little damage happens, like from natural background, being a low dose over a long period of time, the body repairs the damage done. However, as you increase the dose and short the time it is received, the cells in your body can not repair all the damage. At that time, they will have a good chance of dying. Even this is not a big deal, we have trillion of cells in our body, and millions die every day. But if the dose is very large over a short period of time (acute), enough sensitive cells can be killed that it will effect the well being of the body.

Answer 2

Radiation sickness is not generally well understood by the public, yet there term is commonly used, or I should say, mis-used in Hollywood films and the written media.

When talking about radiation and its effects, we measure the amount received using a unit system called dose (radiation dose), with the unit called rem. As an example, from natural radiation sources, we receive roughly 0.200 - 0.300 rem per year, (or 200 - 300 mrem) depending on where you live. The other important factor in radiation effects is time. As you can imagine, receiving a dose of 100 rem in a minute is worse than receiving it over 100 years. Let me explain a little about what radiation does to help explain that.

What radiation does is cause atoms to loose electrons, being ionized. if this happens in a body, these ions can do damage in cells. If only a little damage happens, like from natural background, being a low dose over a long period of time, the body repairs the damage done. However, as you increase the dose and short the time it is received, the cells in your body can not repair all the damage. At that time, they will have a good chance of dying. Even this is not a big deal, we have trillion of cells in our body, and millions die every day. But if the dose is very large over a short period of time (acute), enough sensitive cells can be killed that it will effect the well being of the body.
This is what radiation sickness is. The some of the most sensitive cells in a human are the active cells in the lining of the intestine (called crypt cells), white blood cells, and the cells that make red and white blood cells. With enough damage done to your intestine lining, you will feel sick, maybe vomit, have nausea, not be able to absorb water, become dehydrated, etc. This is what is typically called radiation sickness, the nausea, vomiting, overall sick feeling from a high dose of radiation..

Answer 3

It is a medical condition that describes the effects of exposure to high levels of nuclear radiation on living tissue or cells. It is described as the destruction or acelerated mutation of tissue resulting in the mass production of tumors or celluar necrosis.


Radiation sickness is illness that occurs from exposure to a large amount of radiation. The exposure may be in a series of doses over time (chronic) or in a single large dose (acute).

Exposure to large doses of radiation can cause severe illness, and in some cases, death. The larger the dose, the greater your risk of cancer and other adverse health effects, including cataracts and mental retardation in children whose mothers were exposed during pregnancy.

Causes of radiation exposure may be accidental or intentional. Intentional sources of radiation exposure could occur if terrorists blew up a nuclear power plant, set off a nuclear bomb or detonated a so-called dirty bomb. A dirty bomb uses conventional explosives to spread radioactive materials, such as radioactive waste from a nuclear power plant or sources of radiation from a medical facility.

Answer 4

Radiation sickness could be the change from the usual,to something strange, eg. uv rays gamma rays etc. affects the genetic arrangements/causing of mutation due to continous exposure to the rays.

Answer 5

Alergic or adverse reactions due to radiations. e.g. Lupus cells formed due to Sun radiations which affects skin. Symptons are high fever with redness of skin.

Answer 6

radition sickness is when someone or somewhat is exposed to a long term of high dosage of enerigized raditation.

In terms, there are a lot of refrences determining what is so called radition sickness.

There is pultonium 210 sickness that is radition also, or sunburn from the sun, in any case radition sickness can cause long term llnesses like cancer which is common. The radition can cause minor dmges, but in long terms can cause illnesses.

Answer 7

radiation sickness is a condition when a person doesn't feel healthy and reason being exposure to electromagnetic or radioactive radiations.
not all radiaton cause this like infra red doesn't

Answer 8

it's called "google it up on google.com"

Answer 9

Radiation sickness is generally associated with acute exposure and has a characteristic set of symptoms that appear in an orderly fashion. The symptoms of radiation sickness become more serious (and the chance of survival decreases) as the dosage of radiation increases. These effects are described as the deterministic effects of radiation.

Longer term exposure to radiation, at doses less than that which produces serious radiation sickness, can induce cancer as cell-cycle genes are mutated. If a cancer is radiation-induced, then the disease, the speed at which the condition advances, the prognosis, the degree of pain and every other feature of the disease is not a function of the radiation dose which the person was exposed to.

Since tumors grow by abnormally rapid cell division, the ability of radiation to disturb cell division is also used to treat cancer, and low levels of ionizing radiation have been claimed to lower one's risk of cancer.

Radiation poisoning can result from accidental exposure to industrial radiation sources. People working with radioactive materials often wear electrometer dosimeters or film "badges" to monitor their total exposure to radiation. These devices are more useful than Geiger counters for determining biological effects, as they measure cumulative exposure over time, and are calibrated to change color or otherwise signal the user before exposure reaches unsafe levels. However, film badge types require the film to be developed, as with photographic film, and are used to measure long-term exposure where brief catastrophic exposures are not expected.

Radiation poisoning was a major concern after the Chernobyl reactor accident. It is important to note that in humans the acute effects were largely confined to the accident site. Of the 100 million curies (4 exabecquerels) of radioactive material, the short lived radioactive isotopes such as 131I Chernobyl released were initially the most dangerous. Due to their short half-lives of 5 and 8 days they have now decayed, leaving the more long-lived 137Cs (with a half-life of 30.07 years) and 90Sr (with a half-life of 28.78 years) as main dangers. Thirty-one people died as an immediate result of the Chernobyl accident.

When radioactive compounds enter the human body, the effects are different from those resulting from exposure to an external radiation source. Especially in the case of alpha radiation, which normally does not penetrate the skin, the exposure can be much more damaging after ingestion or inhalation. The radiation exposure is normally expressed as a committed effective dose equivalent (CEDE).

On the 23rd of November 2006 Alexander Litvinenko died due to suspected deliberate poisoning with polonium-210. His is the first case of confirmed death due to such a cause, although it is also known that there have been other cases of attempted assassination such as in the cases of KGB defector Nikolay Khokhlov and journalist Yuri Shchekochikhin where radioactive thallium was used. In addition, an incident occurred in 1990 at Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station where several employees acquired small doses of radiation due to the contamination of water in the office watercooler with tritium contaminated heavy water.

In the case of a person who has had only part of their body irradiated then the treatment is easier, as the human body can tolerate very large exposures to the non-vital parts such as hands and feet, without having a global effect on the entire body. In short if the hands get a 100 Sv dose which results in the body receiving a dose (averaged over your entire body of 5 Sv) then the hands may be lost but Radiation poisoning would not occur. The resulting injury would be described as localized radiation burn.

Dose-equivalents are presently stated in sieverts:

0.05–0.2 Sv (5–20 REM)
No symptoms. Potential for cancer and mutation of genetic material, according to the LNT model: this is disputed. A few researchers contend that low dose radiation may be beneficial. 50 mSv is the yearly federal limit for radiation workers in the United States. In the UK the yearly limit for a classified radiation worker is 20 mSv. In Canada, the single-year maximum is 50 mSv, but the maximum 5-year dose is only 100 mSv. Company limits are usually stricter so as not to violate federal limits.

0.2–0.5 Sv (20–50 REM)
No noticeable symptoms. Red blood cell count decreases temporarily.

0.5–1 Sv (50–100 REM)
Mild radiation sickness with headache and increased risk of infection due to disruption of immunity cells. Temporary male sterility is possible.

1–2 Sv (100–200 REM)
Light radiation poisoning, 10% fatality after 30 days (LD 10/30). Typical symptoms include mild to moderate nausea (50% probability at 2 Sv), with occasional vomiting, beginning 3 to 6 hours after irradiation and lasting for up to one day. This is followed by a 10 to 14 day latent phase, after which light symptoms like general illness and fatigue appear (50% probability at 2 Sv). The immune system is depressed, with convalescence extended and increased risk of infection. Temporary male sterility is common. Spontaneous abortion or stillbirth will occur in pregnant women.

2–3 Sv (200–300 REM)
Severe radiation poisoning, 35% fatality after 30 days (LD 35/30). Nausea is common (100% at 3 Sv), with 50% risk of vomiting at 2.8 Sv. Symptoms onset at 1 to 6 hours after irradiation and last for 1 to 2 days. After that, there is a 7 to 14 day latent phase, after which the following symptoms appear: loss of hair all over the body (50% probability at 3 Sv), fatigue and general illness. There is a massive loss of leukocytes (white blood cells), greatly increasing the risk of infection. Permanent female sterility is possible. Convalescence takes one to several months.


3–4 Sv (300–400 REM)
Severe radiation poisoning, 50% fatality after 30 days (LD 50/30). Other symptoms are similar to the 2–3 Sv dose, with uncontrollable bleeding in the mouth, under the skin and in the kidneys (50% probability at 4 Sv) after the latent phase.


4–6 Sv (400–600 REM)
Acute radiation poisoning, 60% fatality after 30 days (LD 60/30). Fatality increases from 60% at 4.5 Sv to 90% at 6 Sv (unless there is intense medical care). Symptoms start half an hour to two hours after irradiation and last for up to 2 days. After that, there is a 7 to 14 day latent phase, after which generally the same symptoms appear as with 3-4 Sv irradiation, with increased intensity. Female sterility is common at this point. Convalescence takes several months to a year. The primary causes of death (in general 2 to 12 weeks after irradiation) are infections and internal bleeding.

6–10 Sv (600–1,000 REM)
Acute radiation poisoning, near 100% fatality after 14 days (LD 100/14). Survival depends on intense medical care. Bone marrow is nearly or completely destroyed, so a bone marrow transplant is required. Gastric and intestinal tissue are severely damaged. Symptoms start 15 to 30 minutes after irradiation and last for up to 2 days. Subsequently, there is a 5 to 10 day latent phase, after which the person dies of infection or internal bleeding. Recovery would take several years and probably would never be complete.

Devair Alves Ferreira received a dose of approximately 7.0 Sv (700 REM) during the Goiânia accident and survived, partially due to his fractionated exposure.


10–50 Sv (1,000–5,000 REM)

The mouth of a man who has suffered a 10 to 20 Gy dose 21 days after the exposure, note that damage to normal skin, the lips and the tongue can be seenAcute radiation poisoning, 100% fatality after 7 days (LD 100/7). An exposure this high leads to spontaneous symptoms after 5 to 30 minutes. After powerful fatigue and immediate nausea caused by direct activation of chemical receptors in the brain by the irradiation, there is a period of several days of comparative well-being, called the latent (or "walking ghost") phase. After that, cell death in the gastric and intestinal tissue, causing massive diarrhea, intestinal bleeding and loss of water, leads to water-electrolyte imbalance. Death sets in with delirium and coma due to breakdown of circulation. Death is currently inevitable; the only treatment that can be offered is pain therapy.

Louis Slotin was exposed to approximately 21 Sv in a criticality accident on 21 May 1946, and died nine days later on 30 May.

At this dose the skin can be damaged, here is a photo of a man who got a 10 to 20 Gy gamma whole body dose as a result of an industrial accident (He died about 10 days after the photo was taken {about 30 days after the event}).

50–80 Sv (5,000–8,000 REM)
Immediate disorientation and coma in seconds or minutes. Death occurs after a few hours by total collapse of nervous system.


More than 80 Sv (>8,000 REM)
U.S. military forces expect immediate death.[citation needed] A worker receiving 100 Sv (10,000 REM) in an accident at Wood River, Rhode Island, USA on 24 July 1964 survived for 49 hours after exposure, and an operator receiving between 60 and 180 Sv (18,000 REM) to his upper body in an accident at Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA on 30 December 1958 survived for 36 hours; details of this accident can be found on page 16 (page 30 in the PDF version) of Los Alamos' 2000 Review of Criticality Accidents