Medical charity MSF-backed hospitals treated Syria 'chemical victims'

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said its organizations in Syria treated about 3,600 patients with neurotoxic symptoms, of whom 355 have died.

MSF, which said it cannot scientifically confirm the use of chemical weapons, said the patients had arrived in three hospitals in the Damascus area on Wednesday.

According to the BBC, it said staff at the hospitals described a large number of patients arriving in the space of less than three hours with symptoms including convulsions, dilated pupils and breathing problems.

MSF director of operations Bart Janssens said the symptoms strongly suggested mass exposure to a neurotoxic agent.