| Dead Bodies And Health Risks |
Shopping Risks |
Website Links For Health |
Information AboutDead Bodies And Health Risks |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT HEALTH RISKS FROM DEAD BODIES | |
| hygiene | |
| safety | |
| emergency management | |
| health risks | |
|
According to health professionals, the fear of spread of disease by bodies killed by trauma rather than disease is not justified. Amongst others, Steven Rottman, director of the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters, said that no scientific evidence existed that bodies of disaster victims increased the risk of epidemics, adding that cadavers in fact posed less risk of contagion than living people. Obviously this does not apply in the case of a health disaster such as an Epidemic where the victims are affected by diseases which can be communicated by dead bodies. And sanitary measures for the survivors of any disaster are necessary to prevent the spread of diseases which affect concentrations of people in bad conditions. In disasters involving trauma where there is competition for resources, more effort should be spent caring for survivors (improving Sanitation , providing clean water or facilities for boiling or otherwise Disinfecting water, providing food, clothing and shelter), and less disinfecting and disposing urgently of the dead. Religious and cultural practices, the stench, and the effect on morale must of course also be taken into consideration. The incorrect notion that dead bodies inherently cause deadly and contagious — one gets Malaria from breathing marsh air, Cholera from breathing foul air from untreated Sewage , and diseases from the stench of decomposing corpses; (b) a confusion between normal decay processes and the signs of disease; and (c) the true fact that corpses of those who died from certain Contagious diseases do, indeed, spread disease. While, of course, research and evidence must override any commonsensical arguments, there is no logical reason for non-diseased corpses to generate and spread disease: Micro-organisms do not come into being by Spontaneous Generation , any more than flies are generated spontaneously by rotting rubbish, rather than hatching eggs. Disease micro-organisms are not the same as those causing decay. Contamination of water supplies, whether by unburied bodies, burial sites or temporary storage sites, should clearly be avoided, but the risks from undiseased bodies are of Gastroenteritis (presumably from normal intestinal contents) rather than epidemics and deadly diseases. From Infectious Disease Risks From Dead Bodies Following Natural Disasters : "There is little evidence of microbiological contamination of groundwater from burial ... Where dead bodies have contaminated water supplies, gastroenteritis has been the most notable problem, although communities will rarely use a water supply where they know it to be contaminated by dead bodies." There is, however, a health risk from chronic infectious diseases which spread by direct contact—hepatitis B and C, HIV, enteric pathogens, tuberculosis—to those in close contact with the dead, such as rescue workers EXTERNAL LINKS Detailed information is to be found in the following documents:
See also:
|
|
|