Beyond the rubble: the hidden, lasting damage that explosions cause inside human bodies |
When missiles and drones strike populated areas, the images that follow tend to show destroyed buildings and burning streets. What they rarely capture is what happens inside the bodies of those nearby, including people who walk away apparently unharmed.
The injuries caused by modern explosive munitions are wide-ranging, often hidden, and can develop hours or days after the initial blast. Understanding them matters, not least because many of those affected in conflict zones are civilians, without the protective equipment that gives soldiers some defence against the worst effects.
The first thing to hit the body is invisible. Every explosion sends out a pressure wave travelling at enormous speed – up to 9,000 metres per second – that passes through tissue, organs and bone in an instant.
The body’s air-filled structures are most vulnerable. In the lungs, the wave compresses and then rapidly decompresses delicate tissue, causing bruising, tearing and internal bleeding. This “blast lung” can fatally disrupt the lungs’ ability to exchange oxygen and may kill........