On social networks, it all started with an article titled “According to a study, a person who died of the coronavirus could still be contagious”. Consulted more than 650,000 times, it refers to a text published in the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine : two researchers explain that a forensic doctor would have died after having been in contact with the deceased infected with the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus…
Presented by Indian and Thai researchers, the situation seems serious: it would be the first case “infection and death among medical staff in a forensic unit“and even”first case of spread of Covid-19 post mortem“!
The reality is (a little) different. Four days after the publication of the text, the researchers insisted on making a correction: according to the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicineauthors “did not want to suggest that the victim was dead and they cannot scientifically confirm that the virus was transmitted via the corpse “. Besides, “the authors regret that the article is not clear enough and that it could have given rise to misinterpretation“. Phew.
Can you catch the coronavirus post-mortem?
The question is complicated… and the health authorities do not quite agree! On the one hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) explains that “except in the case of hemorrhagic fevers (…) and cholera, corpses are usually not contagious. In patients who died of pandemic influenza, only the lungs may be contagious if not handled properly during an autopsy. Otherwise, corpses do not transmit the disease“.
On the other hand, the High Council of Public Health affirms that “it must be considered as a principle that the contamination risk is the same in a deceased patient as in a living patient. (…) Any deceased body is potentially contaminating and standard precautions should be applied when handling any body“. In short, uncertainty persists…
At any rate, since April 1, 2020acts of embalming (that is to say: care for the preservation of bodies, such as mortuary toilet) are prohibited on the deceased who died because of Covid-19.
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Coronavirus: what do we do with bodies after death?
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