On December 31, 2019, China reported to the WHO cases of pneumonia in Wuhan caused by a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). This escalated into an unprecedented outbreak of infections, leading the WHO to characterise it as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly evolving, and since October 9, 2021, almost 200000000 people have been infected with more than 4000000 deaths globally [1]. To reduce transmission and mortality, efforts have been made to develop vaccines against COVID-19. Since December 2020, new vaccines have been authorized to help control the spread of the virus [2]. Despite the vaccination campaign progressing successfully, our battle is not yet won, and avoiding exposure to this virus is crucial to preventing COVID-19. Person-to-person transmission occurs primarily via direct contact or through droplets spread by the infected individual coughing or sneezing [3-5]. Although the infection rate from dead bodies is unclear [4], managing them is of great importance in reducing viral transmission, especially because mortuary staff and pathologists will be exposed to potentially infective materials from cadavers, transmitted through airways, body bags, autopsy tables, and autopsy room walls [4,6]. For this reason, many societies, institutes, and governments have given general infection and prevention advice. This viewpoint aims to summarize how different countries manage the COVID-19 dead and perform autopsies and whether common prevention recommendations can be identified. The PubMed database was searched until October 9, 2021. We used keywords for: deceased covid 19, management of death covid 19, autopsy covid 19 ((deceased covid 19) AND management of death covid 19) AND autopsy covid 19). The selected articles’ references were also screened. Only documents in English were included, while reviews were excluded.
Prevention of COVID-19 transmission from deceased subject: A critical point of view
Mele F.Writing – Original Draft Preparation
;Calvano M.;Leonardelli M.;Macorano E.;Duma S.;Introna F.;De Donno A.Writing – Review & Editing
2022-01-01
Abstract
On December 31, 2019, China reported to the WHO cases of pneumonia in Wuhan caused by a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). This escalated into an unprecedented outbreak of infections, leading the WHO to characterise it as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly evolving, and since October 9, 2021, almost 200000000 people have been infected with more than 4000000 deaths globally [1]. To reduce transmission and mortality, efforts have been made to develop vaccines against COVID-19. Since December 2020, new vaccines have been authorized to help control the spread of the virus [2]. Despite the vaccination campaign progressing successfully, our battle is not yet won, and avoiding exposure to this virus is crucial to preventing COVID-19. Person-to-person transmission occurs primarily via direct contact or through droplets spread by the infected individual coughing or sneezing [3-5]. Although the infection rate from dead bodies is unclear [4], managing them is of great importance in reducing viral transmission, especially because mortuary staff and pathologists will be exposed to potentially infective materials from cadavers, transmitted through airways, body bags, autopsy tables, and autopsy room walls [4,6]. For this reason, many societies, institutes, and governments have given general infection and prevention advice. This viewpoint aims to summarize how different countries manage the COVID-19 dead and perform autopsies and whether common prevention recommendations can be identified. The PubMed database was searched until October 9, 2021. We used keywords for: deceased covid 19, management of death covid 19, autopsy covid 19 ((deceased covid 19) AND management of death covid 19) AND autopsy covid 19). The selected articles’ references were also screened. Only documents in English were included, while reviews were excluded.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
