Scientists Have Reported The First Case Of The Coronavirus Spreading From A Dead Body
“We need to take care of the people who take care of the dead,” one pathologist said.



https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...d-body-coroner

CORONAVIRUS SPREADS FROM DEAD BODY IN FIRST REPORTED CASE OF ITS KIND

medical examiner has died from coronavirus after catching it from a dead body in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.

The forensic practitioner worked in the Thai capital of Bangkok, according to a letter published in the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine. Further details, including their name and age, were not provided.

Won Sriwijitalai of Bangkok's RVT Medical Center and Viroj Wiwanitkit of India's DY Patil University, co-wrote the letter. "According to our best knowledge, this is the first report on COVID-19 infection and death among medical personnel in a forensic medicine unit," they wrote.

The letter was written on March 20, when there were 272 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Thailand, including two medical personnel: the forensic medicine professional and a nursing assistant.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of confirmed cases in Thailand has since hit 2,613. Worldwide, more than 1.9 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, almost 120,000 have died and over 457,500 have recovered. As shown in the map by Statista below, the coronavirus has reached almost every country in the world.

Sriwijitalai and Wiwanitkit said that when the forensic examiner caught the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, most cases in Thailand were imported and the bug was not spreading widely in the community. In addition, "there is low chance of forensic medicine professionals coming into contact with infected patients, but they can have contact with biological samples and corpses," they said.

"At present, there is no data on the exact number of COVID-19 contaminated corpses since it is not a routine practice to examine for COVID-19 in dead bodies in Thailand. Nevertheless, infection control and universal precautions are necessary."

They advised forensic professionals to wear protective clothing, including a suit, gloves, goggles, cap and masks when working, and pathology and forensic units must follow disinfection procedures on corpses used in operating rooms.

Angelique Corthals, professor of pathology at the City University of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who was not involved in the case, told BuzzFeed News: "Not just the medical examiners, but morgue technicians and the people in funeral homes need to take extra care."

Summer Johnson McGee, a health policy expert at the University of New Haven, also told BuzzFeed News that anyone coming into contact with a body that had tested positive for coronavirus, "dead or alive," should wear personal protective equipment to avoid spreading the virus.

"Autopsies and subsequent investigations present real risks for coroners to acquire COVID-19," she said.

In interim guidance on how to safely manage the corpses of COVID-19 victims published in late March, the World Health Organization said dead bodies are generally not infectious, except in cases of hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola and Marburg, or if the lungs of patients with pandemic influenza are not handled properly.

"To date there is no evidence of persons having become infected from exposure to the bodies of persons who died from COVID-19," the WHO said.

"These recommendations are subject to revision as new evidence becomes available," the UN agency said.

Wiwanitkit told Newsweek it remains unclear if the patient caught the virus from their work, as noted in the article. However, he said the case could be useful for those planning safety protocols for the management of dead bodies.

Wiwanitkit said the potential spread of the coronavirus from corpses is "an important forgotten issue in [the] present crisis of COVID-19."

https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus...-virus-1497674

well shit...
mungkin "mereka" yg kemarin kemarin ada di berita geger nolak itu ada benarnya..