Mucheleng'anga Luchenga, Himwaze Cordilia
Ministry of Home Affairs, Office of the State Forensic Pathologist, Nationalist Road, Lusaka, Zambia.
University Teaching Hospitals, Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Nationalist Road, Lusaka, Zambia.
Forensic Sci Int Rep. 2020 Dec;2:100147. doi: 10.1016/j.fsir.2020.100147. Epub 2020 Oct 10.
Although forensic pathology is less visible on the front lines of public health, it plays a significant role in safeguarding public health by investigating and identifying unusual infectious disease deaths such as those caused by COVID-19. Given that forensic pathology is responsible for investigating deaths that are sudden, unexplained, or unattended by a physician, its participation in mortality and disease surveillance contributes data useful to clinicians and epidemiologists. The data provides demographic details, the extent of disease, and causes of death. Utilizing forensic pathology data provides a wealth of information that helps understand the Covid-19 disease and inform public health policy. This paper aims to describe the role of forensic pathology in the COVID-19 pandemic era in Zambia. With the confirmation of the first COVID-19 cases in Zambia, the forensic pathology service developed a screening tool for probable detection of COVID-19 infections in brought-in-dead cases undergoing forensic autopsies at the University Teaching Hospital. The screened cases were tested for COVID-19. Notably, most of the COVID-19 deaths recorded in Zambia are from the BID that were tested. During the COVID-19 pandemic, autopsies were conducted using forensic pathology principles to determine the cause of death and document the extent of disease, thus contributing to the body of knowledge in public health and infectious disease science COVID-19.In conclusion, the forensic pathology service has contributed to the management of patients infected with COVID-19. It has also been useful to public health through mortality and disease surveillance of broughtin- dead cases.
虽然法医病理学在公共卫生的前线不太引人注目，但它在调查和识别不寻常的传染病死亡（如由COVID-19导致的死亡）方面发挥着重要作用，从而保障公众健康。鉴于法医病理学负责调查突然死亡、死因不明或无医生在场的死亡情况，其参与死亡率和疾病监测可为临床医生和流行病学家提供有用的数据。这些数据提供了人口统计学细节、疾病程度和死亡原因。利用法医病理学数据可提供丰富的信息，有助于了解COVID-19疾病并为公共卫生政策提供参考。本文旨在描述法医病理学在赞比亚COVID-19大流行时代所起的作用。随着赞比亚首例COVID-19病例的确诊，法医病理学服务部门开发了一种筛查工具，用于在大学教学医院对接受法医尸检的死亡病例中可能感染的COVID-19进行检测。对筛查出的病例进行了COVID-19检测。值得注意的是，赞比亚记录的大多数COVID-19死亡病例都来自接受检测的死亡病例。在COVID-19大流行期间，根据法医病理学原则进行尸检以确定死因并记录疾病程度，从而为公共卫生和传染病科学中关于COVID-19的知识体系做出贡献。总之，法医病理学服务为COVID-19感染患者的管理做出了贡献。它通过对死亡病例的死亡率和疾病监测，对公共卫生也很有帮助。
