Abstract: A method of detecting an amount of a cholinesterase inhibitor in a sample comprising steps of: (a) contacting the sample with an agent capable of recovering the cholinesterase inhibitor from the sample so that the cholinesterase inhibitor is recovered, wherein the agent comprises a reactivity towards phosphyl moieties; (b) isolating the recovered cholinesterase inhibitor from the sample; (c) contacting the isolated cholinesterase inhibitor from step (b) with a test cholinesterase wherein the cholinesterase activity of the test cholinesterase before step (a) is known; and (d) measuring the cholinesterase activity to determine the amount of cholinesterase inhibitor in the sample based on the inhibition of the test cholinesterase activity from the known activity of the test cholinesterase before step (a).

Abstract: The present invention relates to a rapid, high-throughput detection method for screening of potential casualties exposed to a cholinesterase inhibitor. A kit is provided for conducting the method that requires only a small volume of sample such as blood for detection and has a rapid screening throughput for multiple casualties. The kit is able to detect both free and protein-bound-cholinesterase inhibitors. The method should be able to differentiate asymptomatic exposure from the mass psychogenic illness cases.