Is the role of forensic medicine in the covid-19 pandemic underestimated?
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COMMENTARY
Is the role of forensic medicine in the covid-19 pandemic underestimated? Milenko Bogdanović 1 & Tatjana Atanasijević 1 & Vesna Popović 1 & Zoran Mihailović 1 & Bojana Radnić 1 & Tijana Durmić 1 Accepted: 30 August 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract We believe that forensic medicine should play a significant role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Forensic pathologists should ask and answer various questions through autopsy cases during the COVID-19 period, thus providing a significant contribution to science. Some of the potential roles of forensic medicine in this issue include: determining the exact cause of death among the deceased who were SARS-CoV-2 positive, contribution to the accuracy of mortality statistics, understanding pathological mechanisms of COVID-19, tracking the presence of the virus over time, survival of the virus after death as well as dealing with medicolegal issues. A detailed multidisciplinary analysis of autopsy samples would undoubtedly help understand this new illness and its clinical management. Therefore, autopsies during the COVID-19 pandemic should not be an exception, but certainly a rule. Keywords COVID-19 pandemic . SARS-CoV-2 . Forensics . Autopsy . Mortality statistics . Cause of death
Since December 31st, 2019, when several cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology were formally recognized in Wuhan City, China and the rest of the world have been facing a new public health challenge. The causative agent, identified from throat swab samples on January 7th, 2020, was named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1, 2]. Moreover, the World Health Organization named the disease COVID-19 [1]. The burden of this new disease has been a cause of major concern for the whole world, especially for countries with vulnerable healthcare systems. On March 6th, 3 months after it was first identified, the first case of COVID-19 infection was officially registered in Serbia. Since then, in the last 3 months, there have been over 12,000 cases, with over 250 deaths defined as COVID-19related. The Government of the Republic of Serbia formed a Crisis Response Team to diminish the emergence of the new infectious disease and to prevent its possible harmful
* Milenko Bogdanović [email protected] 1
Institute of Forensic Medicine “Milovan Milovanović”, University of Belgrade - School of Medicine, 31a Deligradska str, Belgrade 11000, Serbia
consequences on the population. The leading measures to combat this growing global problem have been implemented through isolation and quarantine of those at risk. They have slowed the spread of the epidemic and prevented the “breakdown” of the healthcare system. According to a recent scientific guide, in Serbia, as well as in many other countries, the lack of ‘safe’ autopsy rooms (equipped for preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission) has been a great problem. Therefore, no autopsies (clinical or medicolegal) of proven COVID-19 cases have been performed during the pandemic in Belgrade. This has
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