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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2004;292:323.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Fear of epidemics from the bodies of those killed in deadly floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters sometimes leads to mass burials before the dead can be identified. But such fears are largely baseless, causing unnecessary additional trauma to survivors and wasting needed resources, concludes a report by a British researcher in the May 2004 issue of the Pan American Journal of Public Health (http://publications.paho.org/english/dead_bodies.pdf).

Oliver Morgan, MSc, a student with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, searched through published articles relating to natural disasters and found no evidence that those killed in such circumstances pose a risk of epidemics. Although the risks for rescue workers who handle cadavers are higher than those for the survivors of a disaster, those risks can be minimized with appropriate precautions, such as vaccinations against hepatitis B and tuberculosis and using body bags and disposable gloves.

Disposal . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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