Institute of Anatomy, Rostock University Medical Center, Gertrudenstrasse 9, 18057, Rostock, Germany.
Institute for Medical Microbiology, Virology and Hygiene, Rostock University Medical Center, Schillingallee 35, 18057, Rostock, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2024 Aug 17;14(1):19061. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-69659-y.
Mold growth on body donations remains an underreported yet serious issue in anatomical teaching. Bacterial and fungal growth pose health risks to lecturers and students, alongside with ethical and aesthetic concerns. However, limited information exists on the presence of bacteria and fungi on body donations and their underlying causes. To investigate the potential impact of airborne germs on body donation contamination, we conducted indoor air measurements before, during, and after our anatomical dissection course, with outdoor measurements serving as a control. Tissue samples from the dissected body donations were collected to assess the germ load, with qualitative and quantitative microbiological analyses. Air samples from the dissection hall contained no fungi, but various fungal species were identified in the adjacent stairways and outdoors which implies that fungal occurrence in the dissection hall air was independent of lecturers' and students' presence. Moreover, our results indicate that adequate ventilation filters can effectively reduce indoor fungal germs during courses, while the bacterial load in room air appears to increase, likely due to the presence of lecturers and students. Additionally, the tissue samples revealed no bacterial or fungal germs which implies that our ethanol-formalin-based embalming solution demonstrates an effective long-term antimicrobial preservation of corpses.
遗体捐赠上的霉菌生长仍然是解剖教学中一个报道较少但严重的问题。细菌和真菌的生长给讲师和学生带来了健康风险，同时也存在伦理和审美方面的担忧。然而，关于遗体捐赠上细菌和真菌的存在及其潜在原因的信息有限。为了研究空气中细菌对遗体捐赠污染的潜在影响，我们在解剖课程之前、期间和之后进行了室内空气测量，以室外测量作为对照。从解剖遗体捐赠中采集组织样本以评估细菌负荷，并进行定性和定量微生物分析。解剖厅的空气样本中没有真菌，但在相邻的楼梯和室外发现了各种真菌物种，这意味着真菌在解剖厅空气中的存在与讲师和学生的存在无关。此外，我们的结果表明，适当的通风过滤器可以在课程期间有效减少室内真菌细菌，而室内空气的细菌负荷似乎增加，可能是由于讲师和学生的存在。此外，组织样本未显示出细菌或真菌，这意味着我们基于乙醇-福尔马林的防腐溶液对尸体具有有效的长期抗菌保存作用。
