Can you get coronavirus from a corpse? 3:55–
(CNN Spanish) – In Madrid, Spain they set up an ice skating rink to store bodies. In Guayaquil, Ecuador, in early April, there were so many bodies that could be seen on the streets, and many families spent days with the bodies of their loved ones inside their homes. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, gravediggers are digging dozens of graves in the country’s largest cemetery, which already has more than 1.5 million graves.
The coronavirus has saturated the health and funeral systems of several countries equally as cases exceed 2.6 million and 181,000 deaths globally.
This raises a question: Could dead bodies be a focus of infection?
For Dr. Elmer Huerta, a Public Health specialist and CNN en Español collaborator, the short answer is yes.
“There is a whole classification of forensic pathologists to determine if a corpse can be contagious and those of covid-19 are one category less than Ebola. That is why it is said that people should not approach the relative, should not hug him, and should be cremated. It is the secretions that the corpse can have that can be contagious ”, explains the doctor.
Can you get coronavirus from a corpse? 3:55According to a World Health Organization guide from March 24 – the most recent – only patients’ lungs, “if mishandled during an autopsy, can be infectious.”
At the date of the WHO report, they said there was no evidence of people who had caught the bodies of the deceased.
MIRA: Crisis of corpses in Guayaquil passed from the streets and houses to hospital morgues
However, they clarify that to handle a corpse, funeral or forensic personnel must use facial protection, masks, glasses, gloves and gowns if there is a risk of being in contact with fluids or secretions from the bodies.
“It must be ensured that the body fluids that leak from the holes must be contained,” recommends the WHO. “Mobilize and manipulate the body as little as possible. Wrap the body in cloth and transfer it as soon as possible to the mortuary area. “
A report from Thailand in March this year, when there were only 272 cases, noted that a coroner who manipulated the bodies of covid-19 patients was most likely infected by the bodies.
Aerial view of coffins being buried in a new area of Parque Taruma Cemetery in Manaus, Brazil. New graves are being dug for those killed by coronavirus. (MICHAEL DANTAS / AFP via Getty Images)
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“To our knowledge, this is the first report of infection and death among medical personnel from the Forensic Medicine unit,” said the study, which has been reviewed by the Scientific American journal.
According to the study, at that time there had been no reported community contagion, so it is likely that the coroner had been contaminated with samples or bodies.
Preparations to bury covid-19 victims 2:34“A corpse can be contagious for hours, if not days,” Dr. Otto Yang of the Department of Medicine and the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Scientific American. “The virus would still be in respiratory secretions, and would potentially reproduce in cells that have not yet died in the lungs,” he clarifies, a position that coincides with that of Dr. Huerta.
In the recommendations of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to handle samples of people killed by covid-19, it is emphasized that the usual route of transmission, from person to person by droplets when coughing or sneezing, is not a concern “when dealing with human bodies or doing postmortem procedures” , they indicate.
However, they recommend transporting bodies with covid-19 or suspected of having the virus in bags that should be disinfected with substances that kill the coronavirus, and gloves should be worn.
Due to quarantine and social distancing measures, funerals, burials and wakes have been canceled in several countries.
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“People should consider not touching the body of someone who has died from covid-19. Older people and people of all ages with serious underlying health conditions are at increased risk of developing severe covid-19 disease. The virus may be less likely to be spread by certain types of contact, such as holding hands or hugging after the body has prepared for visualization. Other activities, such as kissing, washing, and covering before, during, and after the body is prepared, should be avoided, if possible, ”the CDC says.
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