Cordner Stephen, Bouwer Heinrich, Tidball-Binz Morris
Monash University, Australia; International Programmes, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Australia.
Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Australia.
Forensic Sci Int. 2017 Oct;279:302-309. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.04.010. Epub 2017 Apr 25.
With some of their economies, communities and health systems weakened by decades of war and poor governance, it was no accident that an epidemic of Ebola virus disease broke out in west Africa. Being spread in part by contact with body fluids of those who had died from the disease, funerary rites and the way dead bodies were managed were important modes of transmission. The Liberian Red Cross, supported by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, undertook the challenging task of managing the dead bodies in Monrovia during the epidemic. The work was undertaken by volunteers, not health care workers, who were trained and equipped for this task. The authors observed their work and were impressed. Valuable lessons were learned for mortuaries generally, and for Humanitarian Forensic Action involving the management of highly infectious human remains.
由于数十年的战争和治理不善，一些国家的经济、社区及卫生系统遭到削弱，西非爆发埃博拉病毒病疫情并非偶然。该病部分通过接触死于该病者的体液传播，葬礼仪式及尸体处理方式是重要的传播途径。在红十字会与红新月会国际联合会及红十字国际委员会的支持下，利比里亚红十字会承担了在疫情期间于蒙罗维亚处理尸体这一具有挑战性的任务。此项工作由志愿者而非医护人员开展，这些志愿者为此任务接受了培训并配备了相应装备。作者观察了他们的工作并深受触动。这为一般停尸房以及涉及处理高传染性遗体的人道主义法医行动提供了宝贵经验。
