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Graphical abstract Highlights • Work of the Organisation of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is outlined. • Advice on assistance and protection from OPCW Scientific Advisory Board is provided. • Advice addresses medical care and treatment of longer term injuries from nerve agents. • Scientific literature on the topics is reviewed and over 130 references included. • This advice will better inform toxicologists, medics and emergency responders. Abstract The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has provided advice in relation to the Chemical Weapons Convention on assistance and protection. We present the SAB's response to a request from the OPCW Director-General in 2014 for information on the best practices for preventing and treating the health effects from acute, prolonged, and repeated organophosphorus nerve agent (NA) exposure. The report summarises pre- and post-exposure treatments, and developments in decontaminants and adsorbing materials, that at the time of the advice, were available for NAs. The updated information provided could assist medics and emergency responders unfamiliar with treatment and decontamination options related to exposure to NAs. The SAB recommended that developments in research on medical countermeasures and decontaminants for NAs should be monitored by the OPCW, and used in assistance and protection training courses and workshops organised through its capacity building programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Work of the Organisation of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is described. • Advice on assistance and protection from OPCW Scientific Advisory Board is presented. • The advice addresses medical care/treatment of injuries from nerve agents. • Scientific literature on the topics is reviewed and over 140 references highlighted. • This advice serves as a resource for toxicologists, medics and emergency responders. Abstract The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has provided advice on assistance and protection in relation to the Chemical Weapons Convention. In this, the first of several papers describing the SAB's work on this topic, we describe advice given in response to questions from the OPCW Director-General in 2013 and 2014 on the status of available medical countermeasures and treatments to organophosphorus nerve agents. This paper provides the evidence base for this advice which recommended to the OPCW pretreatments, emergency care, and long-term treatments that were available at the time of the request for this class of chemical warfare agent (CWA). It includes a bibliography of over 140 scientific references, which can be used as a platform for watching future medical countermeasure developments. The information provided in this paper should serve as a valuable reference for medical professionals and emergency responders who may have no knowledge of the symptoms and treatment options of exposure to nerve agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Work of the Organisation of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is described. • Advice on assistance and protection from OPCW Scientific Advisory Board is provided. • The advice addresses medical care/treatment of injuries from sulfur mustard. • Scientific literature on the topics is reviewed and 243 references are included. • This advice serves as a resource for toxicologists, medics and emergency responders. Blister agents damage the skin, eyes, mucous membranes and subcutaneous tissues. Other toxic effects may occur after absorption. The response of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to a request from the OPCW Director-General in 2013 on the status of medical countermeasures and treatments to blister agents is updated through the incorporation of the latest information. The physical and toxicological properties of sulfur mustard and clinical effects and treatments are summarised. The information should assist medics and emergency responders who may be unfamiliar with the toxidrome of sulfur mustard and its treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]