Radioactive Sickness

     About 12 - 14 days after the explosion, Father Kleinsorge, Mrs. Nakamura and Mr. Tanimoto fell ill with general malaise, weakness, tiredness, and fever. They did not know it but they were coming down with a disease that was later to be called radiation sickness. Miss Sasaki lay in

Symptoms of radiation sickness include; vomiting, headaches, nausea, hair loss, hemorrhaging and diarrhoea. Most cases of radiation sickness lead to several weeks to months of severe symptoms before leading to death.

High doses of radiation kill cancer cells and stop them from spreading, while at low doses radiation is used to see insides of the human body, such as x-rays (WebMD).

Another reaction that makes a person feel sick is something called "radiation sickness" and consists of feeling tiredness, nausea, lack of appetite and most of the time vomiting, depression and fatigue (Winter 22). Although this treatment is very harsh, it does have an overall effective means of eliminating the cancerous cells and returning the patient to how they were before. If anything, this treatment brings out the strength and courage a person has to fight this horrible disease and continue on living a normal life once again.

that followed, a large number of deaths were added to that amount due to radiation sickness, a

Radiation sickness can have huge impacts on an individual’s immune system and the production of blood cell. The gastrointestinal system and bone marrow, where each of these essential systems of the human body are housed, are highly susceptible to radiation sickness. “...the gastrointestinal system and bone marrow are highly sensitive to radiation”(Mayo Clinic Staff 1). Radiation sickness has two main phases. The first phase mostly includes puking and feeling sick, but diarrhea, headache and fever isn’t uncommon. “The initial signs and symptoms of treatable

Cancer is a genetic, heritable disease in which abnormal cells divide rapidly destroying normal body cells, often being fatal. Cancer can occur in any body tissue; skin, organs, and parts of the reproductive system (Duda). There are various activities linked to different types of cancer, such as smoking, too much sun exposure, gene mutations, carcinogens, and viruses. A major cause of cancer, dating all the way back to the 1950’s, is radiation. Atomic testing ordered by the U.S. Government has been suspected to be the cause of many deaths linked to radiation-related diseases (Williams 149).

There are two reactions that happen in the human body when ionizing radiation within the diagnostic range (30-150 kilovolt peak) is

Beginning with the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979, a widespread belief has proliferated that all levels of ionizing radiation are dangerous. Since 1980, radiation hormesis studies have shown there is actually a threshold of danger with high level exposures, but below that threshold low dose radiation is essentially safe and quite possibly beneficial to life. Yet, this relatively new, seemingly contradictory understanding of radiation's health effects has gone essentially unknown to the general public. In order to grasp the reasons why, we must again return to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Many of the deaths were from the initial blast or burns, but (as mentioned) many people died from radiation sickness. They suffered nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever and weakness. People also had internal bleeding and bled from their mouths, throats and other places in their bodies.

Radiation therapy is the use special machines to convey high-energy rays that damage cancer cells and stop them from growing. The radiation can be directed to a specific area of the body or the whole body. Some side effects that come from the therapy are fatigue, hair loss, nausea, or red, dry, itchy skin.

One potential stochastic effect that can occur with ionizing radiation is thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer is the 5th most common cancer in women. The diagnosis of thyroid malignancy has increased worldwide in the last few decades and is the most rapidly increasing cancer in the United States with a 5.1% increase from 2003 to 2012. Common symptoms of thyroid cancer are a lump on the neck, a tight feeling in the neck, difficulty breathing or swallowing, hoarseness, and swollen lymph nodes. However in many cases, no symptoms arise and the cancer is diagnosed because an abnormality is seen on an imaging test being performed for another reason2.

In 1954, a miss-calculated test blast resulted in a radioactive fallout to drift onto land (VIDEO). At that time more than two-hundred residents were living on the island. They assumed the down pour was a sign from heaven and begun rubbing the substance on their hands, legs, and faces. As a result, many suffered from severe skin burn (VIDEO). The U.S. military treated causalities, while also using them to study the effects of radioactive substances on human beings. The

The use of radioactive elements in medicine is still growing to this day. Many oncologists use it to treat their patients who have cancer. Many cancer patients use this option. They use the radiation to kill off cancer cells. X-ray technicians or radiologists will also use it to administer x-rays to people who may have a broken bone, or need an MRI. The patient is injected with a radioactive material that helps the doctor be able to see inside the body better, whether it be with pictures or ultrasound. Radioactive material is defined as “material that contains radioactivity and thus emits ionizing radiation. It may be material that contains natural radioactivity from the environment or a material that may have been made radioactive.” (The Healthy Physics Society). This happens when someone needs a colonoscopy. They have to drink or are injected with this liquid that helps their organs and all other masses in the body be seen better by the radioactive materials.

radiation (the kind used in X-rays) is known to cause cancer at high doses, the risks of