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Forensic pathologists beware: COVID-19 lives on in blood after death
‘It is more resilient in that it sticks around the dead body’: California’s Dr. Judy Melinek develops protocols for limiting exposure of medical staff to virus during autopsies
By RENEE GHERT-ZAND
26 March 2020, 2:43 am
Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist in the San Francisco Bay Area, has performed autopsies under many different circumstances. The current COVID-19 pandemic, however, poses new challenges in terms of protecting herself and her colleagues and limiting the spread of the deadly virus.
“We are used to dealing with contagious pathogens like tuberculosis, hepatitis and HIV. COVID-19 is different only in that there is currently no treatment… and it is more resilient in that it sticks around the dead body after death,” Melinek recently told The Times of Israel....
“[COVID-19] is a respiratory pathogen and can be transmitted via respiratory droplets, but also through the blood of a viremic patient. Even though decedents don’t cough, they can expel bodily fluids while they are being moved or transported,” she explained.....
...If a person dies with “flu-like” symptoms, then the sheriff-coroner’s office deputies ask questions at the death scene to establish if the patient traveled recently, and whether they were exposed to a known COVID-19 positive patient.
“A nasopharyngeal swab can be done on the first day and if it comes back positive, we may be able to certify the death without an autopsy, just based on the clinical history of respiratory distress and the positive viral test,” Melinek said.
She added that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) currently does not recommend performing an autopsy in COVID-19 positive patients for diagnosis...
https://www.timesofisrael.com/forens...d-after-death/