The Effects of the Nagasaki Atomic Bombing on the Human Body
The injuries inflicted by the atomic bomb resulted from the combined effect of blast wind, heat rays (radiant heat) and radiation and surfaced in an extremely complex pattern of symptoms. The death toll within a distance of one kilometer from the hypocenter was 96.7% among people who suffered burns, 96.9% among people who suffered other external injuries, and 94.1% among people who suffered no apparent injuries. These data show that the deaths occurring immediately after the atomic bombing were due not only to burns and external injuries but also to severe radiation-induced injuries.
This brochure provides an outline of the medical effects of atomic bomb exposure such as acute atomic bomb disease (the period from the bombing to December 1945), late atomic bomb effects such as keloid and cancer (the period from 1946 to the present) and intrauterine exposure. Although there is some difference of opinion among researchers concerning the chronological classification of diseases (the following categories), acute phase in a broad sense, early phase of late effects and late atomic bomb effects are followed in this brochure.
Acute phase of atomic bomb disease
Phase I: Early acute phase, acute phase: up to 14 days after the bombing
Phase IIa: Mid-acute phase, sub-acute phase:15 to 35 days after the bombing
Phase IIb: Mid-acute phase, sub-chronic phase:36 to 60 days after the bombing
Phase III: Late acute phase, chronic phase:61 to 120 days after the bombing
Late effects: Early 1946 to the present
Early phase of late effects
Late atomic bomb effects (particulary the malignancies)
Information on radiation dose, medical examinations and causes of death among atomic bomb survivor health handbook
holders is stored in the center’s computer database. This brochure
includes the results of epidemiological studies on atomic
bomb exposure and health conducted on the basis of this information.