Victims who receive a large dose of radiation may suffer from Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) or “radiation sickness.”

• Key symptoms are nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
• Symptoms may not develop for hours after the exposure.
• Victims and individuals who receive lower doses of radiation may have no symptoms, and have only a very small increase in their risk of developing cancer.
• Some victims may also receive high enough doses of radiation to increase their risk of developing cancer in the future, but not high enough to suffer from any of the symptoms of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS).
• Another indicator of ARS is the victims may seem to recover, but then the symptoms reappear hours to days later and the symptoms are more severe than before.

Skin exposed to high doses of radiation may turn red and look “puffy”; burns may not appear for hours after exposure. Skin may also turn a bronze color similar to a suntan.

• Lack of radiation burns immediately after a detonation or release of material does NOT mean the person did not receive a serious dose of radiation, and does not mean the person is not contaminated.
• Victims with burns appearing immediately after the release of the WMD agent are probably not radiation burns, but more likely thermal or chemical burns.
• Radiation burns are not painful while the damage is occurring. After burns to the skin start to develop, the skin may start to itch and become painful. Radiation burns may seem to heal, then return a day more later with more severe pain, blistering, and swelling. This is another difference from thermal or chemical burns.
• In some cases, where persons have found or stolen industrial radioactive sources and taken the containers apart, they suffered burns on their hands. If suspects have burns on their hands, they may have been handling or transporting radiological materials for malicious purposes.