Editing Blood agent (section)

== Effects ==
{{main|Cyanide poisoning}}

At sufficient concentrations, blood agents can quickly saturate the blood and cause death in a matter of minutes or seconds.<ref name="Walsh 151" /> They cause powerful gasping for breath, violent convulsions and a painful death that can take several minutes.<ref name="Walsh 151" /> The immediate [[cause of death]] is usually [[respiratory failure]].<ref name="Walsh 151" />

Blood agents work at the [[cell (biology)|cellular level]] by preventing the exchange of [[oxygen]] and [[carbon dioxide]] between the blood and the body's cells. This causes the cells to suffocate from lack of oxygen.<ref name="Walsh 151" /> Cyanide-based agents do so by interrupting the [[electron transport chain]] in the inner membranes of [[mitochondria]]. Arsine damages the [[red blood cell]]s which deliver oxygen throughout the body.<ref name="Walsh 151" />