Corpses from natural disasters rarely pose health risk: Red Cross, WHO

Published September 15,2023

Subscribe

Despite perception in some quarters on the contrary, the our bodies of victims of pure disasters or armed battle not often pose a well being menace to communities, the Red Cross and the World Health Organization stated Friday.

Victims who’ve died from trauma, drowning or hearth “do not normally harbour organisms that cause disease with common precautions,” the companies stated.

They added that exceptions are deaths ensuing from infectious illnesses corresponding to Ebola, Marburg or cholera, or if catastrophe strikes in an space the place infectious illnesses are endemic.

Both additionally famous the danger of diarrhoea from ingesting water contaminated by faecal materials from lifeless our bodies.

But routine disinfection of ingesting water is ample to forestall waterborne sickness, regardless that our bodies shouldn’t be left involved with ingesting water sources, the companies stated.

Their recommendation comes after main flooding in Libya and an earthquake in Morocco, with dying tolls within the 1000’s.

Authorities typically attempt to bury the lifeless as swiftly as potential, which might heighten struggling for family members and create authorized and administrative issues for victims’ households.

But the concept that corpses can unfold illness is a “misunderstanding (which) often pushes people to hastily bury the dead and make it more likely that people will go missing, leaving their loved ones in anguish for years to come,” stated Bilal Sablouh, regional forensics advisor for Africa on the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“Those who survive an event like a natural disaster are more likely to spread disease than dead bodies,” added Pierre Guyomarch, head of forensics on the Red Cross.

Both the Red Cross and the WHO suggest figuring out our bodies after which burying them in particular person, clearly marked graves whose areas are then documented for later traceability.

“We urge authorities in communities touched by tragedy to not rush forward with mass burials or mass cremations,” stated Dr Kazunobu Kojima, WHO medical officer for biosafety and biosecurity in its Health Emergencies Programme.

“Dignified management of bodies is important for families and communities, and in the cases of conflict, is often an important component of bringing about a swifter end to the fighting,” he stated.