Acute Exposure

Acute exposure is exposure to a large, single dose of radiation or a series of moderate doses received during a short period of time. It takes a large radiation exposure - more than 75 rad - in a short amount of time to cause acute health effects. This level of radiation would be equivalent to an X-ray dose of 75,000 millirem. By contrast, the average dose from an adult chest X-ray is about 4 millirem.

Large acute doses can result from accidental or emergency exposures or from specific medical procedures (radiation therapy). For approved medical exposures, the benefit of the procedure may outweigh the risk from the exposure. In most cases, a significant acute exposure to radiation causes both immediate and delayed effects. Delayed biological effects can include the following:

• Cataracts
• Temporary or permanent sterility
• Cancer
• Harmful genetic defects

For humans and other mammals, acute exposure to the whole body, if significant enough, can cause rapid development of radiation sickness, resulting in the following:

• Gastrointestinal disorders
• Bacterial infections
• Hemorrhaging
• Anemia
• Loss of body fluids
• Electrolyte imbalance

Extremely high doses of acute radiation exposure can result in death within a few hours, days, or weeks.

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