The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Red Cross have jointly addressed the common misconception surrounding the health risks posed by the bodies of victims of natural disasters and armed conflicts.
According to these health agencies, such victims’ bodies rarely threaten the surrounding communities. Individuals who have lost their lives due to trauma, drowning, or fire typically do not carry disease-causing organisms that would necessitate special precautions.
However, exceptions to this rule include deaths resulting from infectious diseases like Ebola, Marburg, or cholera, especially in regions where these diseases are endemic. Additionally, there is a potential risk of diarrhea if drinking water becomes contaminated by fecal material from deceased bodies.
The WHO and Red Cross stressed that routine drinking water disinfection is generally sufficient to prevent waterborne illnesses, even when bodies are nearby. This advice follows significant flooding in Libya and an earthquake in Morocco, resulting in death tolls in the thousands.
Authorities often try to bury the dead as swiftly as possible, which can heighten suffering for relatives and create legal and administrative problems for victims’ families.
Bilal Sablouh, the Regional Forensics Advisor for Africa at the International Committee of the Red Cross, described the belief that corpses can transmit diseases as a misconception that drives premature burials.
Sablouh said, “But the idea that corpses can spread disease 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.
“Those who survive an event like a natural disaster are more likely to spread disease than dead bodies,” added Pierre Guyomarch, head of forensics at the Red Cross.
Both the Red Cross and the WHO recommend identifying bodies and burying them in individual, clearly marked graves whose locations are documented for later traceability.
“We urge authorities in communities touched by tragedy to not rush forward with mass burials or mass cremations,” said WHO medical officer for biosafety and biosecurity in its Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Kazunobu Kojima.
“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 swiffer end to the fighting,” he said.
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