Rescue carries its own dangers (Image: Roberto Schmidt/Getty)
JUST one tablet of paracetamol (acetaminophen) could help save earthquake survivors who otherwise risk dying from kidney failure after rescue. Experiments in rats have shown that the drug prevents “crush syndrome”, or rhabdomyolysis, in which muscle debris from crushed limbs floods the kidneys soon after the limb is freed from rubble, causing them to fail.
“When you release the pressure on muscle through rescue, debris goes to the kidney. It’s like a chain reaction, and acetaminophen blocks it,” says Olivier Boutaud of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and head of the…
