Mysterious fumes that felled six hospital emergency room workers may have been a nerve gas that metamorphosed from a chemical in a dying woman's blood, scientists have suggested.

An unusual set of chemical reactions arising from failed efforts to save the life of the 31-year-old woman, Gloria Ramirez, may have turned the potent solvent dimethyl sulfoxide, or DMSO, into dimethyl sulfate, which is used in chemical warfare, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory suggested in a report. It takes just a trace of the dimethyl sulfate to kill and the gas dissipates rapidly.

"There are some emergency room personnel who could be very lucky to be alive," said the Riverside County Coroner, Scotty Hill, who released the report on Thursday.

The emergency room workers collapsed on Feb. 19 at Riverside General Hospital. Some reported smelling ammonia-like fumes and seeing crystals in Mrs. Ramirez's blood after a sample was drawn. Both are consistent with dimethyl sulfate, said the Livermore report, which theorized that Mrs. Ramirez could have had DMSO in her system from using an analgesic salve.