early symptoms are lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, weakness
and headache. Later, the patient may have sore mouth, loss of hair,
bleeding gums, bleeding under the skin, and diarrhea. But these same
symptoms can be caused by other diseases, and not everyone who has
radiation sickness shows all these symptoms, or shows them all at once.

If the patient has headache or general discomfort, give him one or two
aspirin tablets every 3 or 4 hours (half a tablet, for a child under
12). If he is nauseous, give him "motion sickness tablets," if
available. If his mouth is sore or his gums are bleeding, have him use a
mouth wash made up of a half-teaspoonful of salt to 1 quart of water. If
there is vomiting or diarrhea, he should drink slowly several glasses
each day of a salt-and-soda solution (one teaspoonful of salt and
one-half teaspoonful of baking soda to 1 quart of cool water), plus
bouillon or fruit juices. If available, a mixture of kaolin and pectin
should be given for diarrhea. Whatever his symptoms, the patient should
be kept lying down, comfortably warm, and resting.

Remember that radiation sickness is _not_ contagious or infectious, and
one person cannot "catch it" from another person.

* * * * *




PART TWO

MAJOR NATURAL DISASTERS