No-Touch Automated Room Disinfection after Autopsies of Exhumed Corpses

Patryk Tarka; Aleksandra Borowska-Solonynko; Małgorzata Brzozowska; Aneta Nitsch-Osuch; Krzysztof Kanecki; Robert Kuthan; Barbara Garczewska

doi:10.3390/pathogens9080648

No-Touch Automated Room Disinfection after Autopsies of Exhumed Corpses

Pathogens. 2020 Aug 12;9(8):648. doi: 10.3390/pathogens9080648.

Authors

Patryk Tarka¹, Aleksandra Borowska-Solonynko², Małgorzata Brzozowska², Aneta Nitsch-Osuch¹, Krzysztof Kanecki¹, Robert Kuthan³, Barbara Garczewska⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Social Medicine and Public Health; Medical University of Warsaw, 3 Oczki St., 02-007 Warsaw, Poland.
² Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw, 1 Oczki st., 02-007 Warsaw, Poland.
³ Chair and Department of Medical Microbiology, Medical University of Warsaw, 5 Chalubinski st., 02-004 Warsaw, Poland.
⁴ Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, 26 Płocka st., 01-138 Warsaw, Poland.

Abstract

Autopsies of exhumed bodies pose a risk of infections with environmental bacteria or fungi, which may be life-threatening. Thus, it is important to use effective methods of disinfection in forensic pathology facilities. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of no-touch automated disinfection (NTD) system after autopsies of exhumed bodies. Directly after 11 autopsies of exhumed bodies, we used an NTD system based on a peroxone vapor to disinfect the air and surfaces. We measured microbial burden in the air and on surfaces before and after NTD. The NTD system reduced the mean bacterial burden in the air from 171 colony forming units (CFU)/m³ to 3CFU/m³. The mean fungal burden in the air decreased from 221 CFU/m³ to 9CFU/m³. The mean all-surface microbial burden was 79 CFU/100 cm² after all autopsies, and it decreased to 2 CFU/100 cm² after NTD. In conclusion, the peroxone-based NTD system was effective for decontamination of the air and surfaces in a dissecting room after autopsies of exhumed bodies.

Keywords: exhumed body; forensic autopsy; no-touch room disinfection.