Post-mortem diagnosis of COVID-19

Rujittika Mungmungpuntipantip; Viroj Wiwanitkit

doi:10.4102/ajlm.v10i1.1471

Post-mortem diagnosis of COVID-19

Afr J Lab Med. 2021 Mar 24;10(1):1471. doi: 10.4102/ajlm.v10i1.1471. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Rujittika Mungmungpuntipantip¹, Viroj Wiwanitkit²

Affiliations

¹ Private Practice, Bangkok, Thailand.
² Department of Community Medicine, DY Patil University, Pune, India.

Abstract

We would like to share our impression on the report 'Postmortem diagnosis of COVID-19: Antemortem challenges of three cases at the 37 Military Hospital, Accra, Ghana'.¹ Attoh et al. concluded that 'The outcome of COVID-19 testing is dependent on the sample type and accuracy of sampling amongst other factors'¹ and suggested that 'more autopsies are required to fully understand the pathogenesis of this disease in Ghanaians'.¹ Indeed, post-mortem diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is possible and there are many reports of the existence of pathogenic viruses in autopsy specimens.^2,3 Autopsy is also very useful for understanding the pathogenesis of this new disease. However, it must be performed with high caution. While there are no confirmed cases of the pathogen being spread from deceased patients, infection of forensic pathology workers has been reported.⁴ More autopsies might be recommended, but adequate biosafety and biosecurity, and other infection control precautions must be in place for these to occur.