How fast does ammonia kill people?

People who inhale high concentrations of ammonia cause burns of the nasal mucosa, throat, respiratory failure, and even death after only a few minutes if there is no timely emergency.

According to Associate Professor Tran Hong Con, Department of Chemistry, University of Natural Sciences, Hanoi National University, ammonia (NH ₃ ) is one of the dangerous gases. At room temperature, ammonia is a colorless gas, has a strong odor and is lighter than air, easily soluble in water.

'Ammonia gas is usually compressed in liquid form when coming into contact with the air to turn into vapor. In vapor form its concentration will be very high. Therefore, ammonia accidents are very dangerous because of the rapid spread of the vapor and the toxic threshold from alertness to coma is very narrow. A person who has just noticed a teary-eyed expression may have turned into a coma when exposed at high concentrations , 'said PGS Con.

Thus, the danger level of ammonia for the body depends on the contact route as well as the dose and time. At high concentrations, this gas can instantly cause burns of skin, eyes, nose, throat, respiratory tract, and even lead to blindness, lung damage and death. Inhalation of lower concentrations of ammonia causes coughing, irritation of the nose, throat, ingestion of the body causing burns of the mouth, throat and stomach.

When entering human body, NH ₃ acts with body water to form ammonium hydroxide . This chemical is corrosive and damages cells. The damaged tissue is drained, which converts the ammonia to ammonium hydroxide and continues to cause skin, eye, respiratory and digestive burns. It also destroys the villi and respiratory mucosa which protect the body against infection. Respiratory lesions can lead to chronic lung disease.

Danger of contact with ammonia.(Graphic: Phuong Nguyen).

Expression of ammonia poisoning

According to Assoc. Prof. Tran Hong Con, people exposed to ammonia in low concentrations such as in public toilets will see eye irritation, not to the point of poisoning. However, if the concentration only needs to increase slightly, ammonia will strongly affect the nervous system, causing the victim to fall into a coma, lose consciousness. If the emergency is not timely, the victim may die.

People who inhale, swallow or touch products containing very large amounts of ammonia will have the following symptoms:

• Respiratory: Cough, chest pain (severe), angina, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, wheezing.
• Eyes, mouth, throat: Tears and burning of eyes, blindness, severe sore throat, mouth pain, lips.
• Cardiovascular: Fast, weak pulse, shock.
• Nerves: Confusion, difficulty walking, dizziness, lack of coordination, restlessness, stupidity.
• Skin: pale green lips, severe burns if exposed long.
• Stomach and gastrointestinal tract: Severe stomach pain, vomiting.

What to do when contact and first aid for people with ammonia poisoning?

• People who come to save victims of ammonia poisoning must use masks.
• Limit exposure to ammonia: Move to a safe place, remove clothes that have toxic gas on, remove ammonia from the body with clean water.
• If the coma victim needs to do CPR until awake. Cases of patients not province. continue to blow breath until the medical staff comes to assist.
• Quickly take the victim to the nearest medical facility.