In
the United States, for example, the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry performed a retrospective
analysis on the public health consequences of acute chlorine
releases in 16 states between 1993 and 2000, using the
Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance
system. The analysis revealed 865 reported incidents involving
chlorine releases [7]. In South Korea, there have
been reports of several cases of acute health problems due
to exposure to chlorine during water purification processes
[8,9]; however, studies investigating the health effects
of collective exposure to chlorine gas are rare. This
study reports the course of an accidental release of chlorine
gas that occurred in a factory in Gumi-si, South Korea,
on March 5, 2013, and describes the results of the analysis
of 2 hospitalized patients with chlorine-induced acute
health problems as well as the clinical features of nonhospitalized
patients.