Bodily circulation and the measure of a life: Forensic identification and valuation after the Titanic disaster.

This article analyzes the process of body recovery that took place after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Focusing on how identification was intertwined with valuation, I show how notions of economic class informed decisions about which human bodies were fit for preservation as human bodies. The RMS Titanic steamship was a microcosm of social circulation in the early 20th-century Atlantic, and life on board was systematically stratified according to economic class. During the recovery that following the sinking, 114 bodies, or one-third of the total recovered, were buried at sea, most of them crewmembers or immigrant passengers who had held third-class tickets. Sea burial exposed the bodies to rapid and inaccessible decomposition, thereby selectively excluding those bodies from the archival and forensic record even as those victims' names and personal artefacts were recorded for posterity. The recovery process thus demonstrates that the material existence of those passengers' remains was not a given, but instead emerged in varied ways through identification and recovery practices. Such practices drew on notions of economic value and identifiability to shape bodily materials, which were selectively preserved, transformed, and/or put out of reach. As such, I argue that identification and valuation are thoroughly enmeshed with what I call instantiation, or determinations of how and whether something exists.

Can Ebola virus evolve to be less virulent in humans?

Understanding Ebola virus (EBOV) virulence evolution not only is timely but also raises specific questions because it causes one of the most virulent human infections and it is capable of transmission after the death of its host. Using a compartmental epidemiological model that captures three transmission routes (by regular contact, via dead bodies and by sexual contact), we infer the evolutionary dynamics of case fatality ratio on the scale of an outbreak and in the long term. Our major finding is that the virus's specific life cycle imposes selection for high levels of virulence and that this pattern is robust to parameter variations in biological ranges. In addition to shedding a new light on the ultimate causes of EBOV's high virulence, these results generate testable predictions and contribute to informing public health policies. In particular, burial management stands out as the most appropriate intervention since it decreases the R0 of the epidemics, while imposing selection for less virulent strains.

The Moral Inadequacy of Cremation.

Cremation has substantial practical benefits. Not only is it much cheaper than traditional burial, but it also comes without its ecological burden. Despite this, we argue that cremation is an inadequate way of disposing of the dead because it entails the destruction of community memory, and, by extension, community and individual identity. It deprives the living of these benefits, while also treating the dead in way which goes against common intuitions about personhood, anthropology and respect for the will of the deceased. Death is perhaps one of the most important subjects in philosophy, and by marginalising it through cremation and related practices, we deprive ourselves of its didactic and social uses. The case we make against cremation is not absolute, but we hope it succeeds in casting doubt on the presumed neutrality of cremation. Our essay is under three heads: (1) we consider the practical benefits of cremation; (2) we reconsider the value of cremation in light of what it deprives individuals and communities of and; (3) we analyse the significance of the corpse in regard to cremation.

Estimating the number of secondary Ebola cases resulting from an unsafe burial and risk factors for transmission during the West Africa Ebola epidemic.

BACKGROUND: Safely burying Ebola infected individuals is acknowledged to be important for controlling Ebola epidemics and was a major component of the 2013-2016 West Africa Ebola response. Yet, in order to understand the impact of safe burial programs it is necessary to elucidate the role of unsafe burials in sustaining chains of Ebola transmission and how the risk posed by activities surrounding unsafe burials, including care provided at home prior to death, vary with human behavior and geography. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Interviews with next of kin and community members were carried out for unsafe burials in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, in six districts where the Red Cross was responsible for safe and dignified burials (SDB). Districts were randomly selected from a district-specific sampling frame comprised of villages and neighborhoods that had experienced cases of Ebola. An average of 2.58 secondary cases were potentially generated per unsafe burial and varied by district (range: 0-20). Contact before and after death was reported for 142 (46%) contacts. Caregivers of a primary case were 2.63 to 5.92 times more likely to become EVD infected compared to those with post-mortem contact only. Using these estimates, the Red Cross SDB program potentially averted between 1,411 and 10,452 secondary EVD cases, reducing the epidemic by 4.9% to 36.5%. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: SDB is a fundamental control measure that limits community transmission of Ebola; however, for those individuals having contact before and after death, it was impossible to ascertain the exposure that caused their infection. The number of infections prevented through SDB is significant, yet greater impact would be achieved by early hospitalization of the primary case during acute illness.

Biosecurity procedures for the environmental management of carcasses burial sites in Korea.

Avian influenza and foot-and-mouth disease are two main contagious pathogenic viral disease which are responsible for the massive burials of livestock in Korea since burial is the primary measure to control these outbreaks. Biosecurity is a set of preventive measures designed to prevent the risk of spreading of these infectious diseases. The main objective of this paper is to discuss about the requirements of biosecurity and develop protocol outlines for environmental management of burial sites in Korea. Current practice prescribes to minimize the potential for on-farm pollution and the spread of the infectious diseases. Specific biosecurity procedures such as proper assessment of leachate quality, safe handling and disposal of leachate, adequate leachate pollution monitoring, necessary seasonal management of burial site, and appropriate sterilization process must be carried out to prevent the indirect transmission of pathogens from the burial sites. Policy makers should acquire robust knowledge of biosecurity for establishing more effective future legislation for carcasses disposal in Korea.

CE: Inside an Ebola Treatment Unit: A Nurse's Report.

In December 2013, the first cases of the most recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease (formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever) emerged in the West African nation of Guinea. Within months the disease had spread to the neighboring countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone. The international humanitarian aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; known in English as Doctors Without Borders) soon responded by sending staff to set up treatment centers and outreach triage teams in all three countries. In August 2014, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak an international public health emergency.In September 2014, the author was sent by MSF to work as a nurse in an Ebola treatment unit in Liberia for five weeks. This article describes her experiences there. It provides some background, outlines the practices and teams involved, and aims to convey a sense of what it's like to work during an Ebola outbreak and to put a human face on this devastating epidemic.

[Anthrax cattle burial grounds in Russia and their biosafety].

AIM: To develop standard operating procedure for assessment level of biohazard for population living near existing cattle burial grounds. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Development of standard operating procedure for assessment of biosafety of cattle burial grounds was performed on the basis of regulatory documents and regional field practical experience. Assessment of biohazard level of anthrax cattle burial grounds was performed in 5 regions choosen on the basis of certain criteria. Total number of samples taken was 762. RESULTS: Rating of federal districts according to number of permanently problematic on anthrax places was composed. It was determined that maximal number of permanently problematic on anthrax places was active during time period until 1950. Agent of anthrax was not detected in studied samples either as spores or vegetative forms and soil was categorized as "clean" on all indicators. CONCLUSION: It was determined that conditions of burial of cattle fallen due to anthrax and their maintenance rules are followed in 5 places. All cattle burial grounds are located inside towns' borders or adjoin to areas of existing or planned apartment blocks.

Guidelines for the effective conduct of mass burials following mass disasters: post-Asian tsunami disaster experience in retrospect.

The frequency of mass disasters is increasing, demanding actions that deal with these promptly and effectively to secure human interests. An undeniable and inevitable reality of any mass disaster is the massive number of fatalities, which will give rise to a further chain of events ranging from the recovery of the deceased, to their transport, storage, identification and, finally, disposal. Past experience has shown that traditional human disposal methods should be redesigned according to the requisites of mass fatality scenarios, and it has been proven that a proper mass burial is by far the most appropriate and standard method for disposal of the dead due to mass disasters as it takes all its practical issues into consideration. A mass burial can be defined as burying more than one deceased of a single or related incident in a single grave or multiple graves simultaneously or separately within a restricted time period in a single or multiple burial sites located within an identified geographical area. In the present context, it is an utmost necessity that we develop uniform detailed guidelines for the proper conduct of mass burials that provide the deceased with all due respect to human dignity, as this will enable these guidelines to be incorporated into future national mass disaster management schemes as an integral component.

"Who knows the power of his bones". Reburial redux.

This paper discusses the repatriation of human remains to indigenous peoples in Australia and the United States and the role anthropologists play in the construction of past, present, and future identities for contemporary indigenous peoples. Using examples from both countries, I suggest that many of the participants at the reburials, and in the events leading up to them, were not only reburying their dead ancestors and addressing religious concerns, but were also redeeming past social injustices, renegotiating the status quo, and affirming their modern social and religious identity--all important issues for Fourth World peoples living in First World nation-states today. Reburials are powerful social dramas, testimony to the complex historical relationships between and among all concerned, living and dead, indigenous and non-indigenous. I also argue that as Fourth World peoples attempt to renegotiate the status quo by turning to the past and reburying their ancestors, the important role of anthropologists in this effort should be considered in terms of both practice and theory. Because of the combination of heritage/cultural resource management legislation, government regulations, a changing professional ethic in regards to issues of repatriation, anthropologists in all subdisciplines are increasingly involved in the witting and unwitting reproduction of indigenous social orders. The implications of this and its ethical dilemmas for anthropologists working in all the subdisciplines and in varied workplaces are explored. The necessity of working with indigenous communities is underscored and suggestions for working toward a common universal heritage are presented.