HIV Screening of Claimed and Unclaimed Dead Bodies at Autopsy

Most of the unclaimed dead bodies brought for autopsies at Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi are either beggars or destitutes commonly involved in different kinds of drug abuses and sexual activities. Autopsy over such dead bodies in the past have revealed tuberculosis (which is commonly associated with HIV infection) as a predominant cause of deaths. Those dead bodies are kept preserved in the cold storage of the morgue for at least 72 hours, for possible identification by relatives. The time for which a corpse remains potentially contagious with HIV is controversial. Infectious virus has been recovered from liquid blood held at room temperature for three weeks and virus in high concentration has been found to remain viable for three weeks. Refrigeration seems to make little difference to viability. Therefore, the possibility of transmission of HIV to the medical and non medical staffs involved in autopsies cannot be ruled out. The present study revealed that unclaimed dead bodies poses more risk of HIV transmission than claimed dead bodies at autopsies.