Evaluation of Veriox as a Skin Decontamination Product after Dermal Exposure to the Nerve Agent VX

Abstract : Veriox (R) is a topical antimicrobial anti-infective/disinfectant, which is under development for various uses to include medical device sterilization, advanced wound care, surface disinfection, a coating on medical products, hand sanitization, and veterinary wound care. The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether Veriox had efficacy as a decontamination product (DC) after skin exposure to the chemical warfare agent VX. This study compared the effectiveness of Veriox to Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion (RSDL) when each was used as a DC product 2 min after dermal exposure to VX in hair-clipped, unanesthetized guinea pigs. Efficacy was established by generating VX dose-lethality curves for each DC product based on 24 survival/lethality responses and calculating the VX dose at which 50% (LD50) of animals died. The dermal LD50 of VX in Veriox-treated animals was 5959 micro g/kg, which was 1.8 fold higher than the VX LD50 of 3380 micro g/kg in RSDL-treated animals. Veriox was significantly (p0.05) more effective than RSDL. Further studies with Veriox are needed to determine its ultimate usefulness as a skin DC product for military use.