[Safe management of COVID-19 dead bodies in sub-Saharan Africa: could families be allowed to bury their dead?] / Gestion sécurisée des dépouilles de personnes décédées de la COVID-19 en Afrique sub-Saharienne: et si on laissait les familles enterrer leurs morts?

Sub-Saharan African countries have been hit by the Coronavirus 2019 pandemic (COVID-19) since March 2020. Besides the resulting health and economic disasters is the psycho-socio-cultural problem related with the management of corpses of people dead from the disease, which might hinder the implementation of the response strategy. In Cameroon for instance, the current corpse management policy is very disputed. In fact, although they were recently made more flexible, the restrictions applied to burials still ban any transfer of dead bodies between cities. In light of the African cultural considerations of dead persons, the disputes observed between the families and the health personnel, the legislation and the available scientific evidence, this article analyses the risks and benefits of allowing families to bury their relatives. It thereafter suggests solutions that reconcile dignity (by allowing families to bury their dead relatives in their homes) and safety (by ensuring a sealed handling and the surveillance by a judiciary police officer). Applying these solutions could improve the population's trust towards the health system, and positively contribute to COVID-19 case prevention, identification and management.

[Comparative normative on sanitary practices of cadaveric preservation in Spain]. / Normativa comparada sobre prácticas sanitarias de conservación cadavérica en Españ.

In this paper the current regulations on cadaveric preservation practices required for the transfer of corpses in the different Autonomous Communities -Reglamentos de Policía Sanitaria Mortuoria- and national legislation are compared. The criteria taken into account have been: a) which sanitary practices are included in the regulations, b) which ones can be carried out in corpses posing a health risk, c) when they are compulsory to be carried out, d) when they can be carried out after death, and e) what professionals can carry them out and/or take responsibility for them. At the time of finishing the paper, a new mortuary regulation is being passed in Andalusia, as well as a decree from the Ministry of Health on technical and sanitary requirements concerning international transfer of corpses and human remains.

Se comparan las normativas vigentes sobre prácticas sanitarias de conservación cadavérica requeridas para el traslado de cadáveres, en las diferentes Comunidades autónomas y la legislación estatal. Los criterios tenidos en cuenta han sido: qué prácticas sanitarias se incluyen en la normativa, cuáles pueden llevarse a cabo en cadáveres de riesgo sanitario, cuándo se requiere su realización, en qué momento tras el fallecimiento pueden realizarse y qué profesionales las pueden llevarlas a cabo y/o responsabilizarse de las mismas. En el momento de finalizar el artículo se está tramitando la publicación del nuevo decreto de sanidad mortuoria de Andalucía, así mismo se está elaborando, por parte del Ministerio de Sanidad, Consumo y Bienestar Social, un Real Decreto sobre "Condiciones técnico sanitarias básicas en materia de traslado internacional de cadáveres, restos humanos y restos cadavéricos".

Normativa comparada sobre prácticas sanitarias de conservación cadavérica en España / Comparative normative on sanitary practices of cadaveric preservation in Spain

Se comparan las normativas vigentes sobre prácticas sanitarias de conservación cadavérica requeridas para el traslado de cadáveres, en las diferentes Comunidades autónomas y la legislación estatal. Los criterios tenidos en cuenta han sido: qué prácticas sanitarias se incluyen en la normativa, cuáles pueden llevarse a cabo en cadáveres de riesgo sanitario, cuándo se requiere su realización, en qué momento tras el fallecimiento pueden realizarse y qué profesionales las pueden llevarlas a cabo y/o responsabilizarse de las mismas. En el momento de finalizar el artículo se está tramitando la publicación del nuevo decreto de sanidad mortuoria de Andalucía, así mismo se está elaborando, por parte del Ministerio de Sanidad, Consumo y Bienestar Social, un Real Decreto sobre "Condiciones técnico sanitarias básicas en materia de traslado internacional de cadáveres, restos humanos y restos cadavéricos"

In this paper the current regulations on cadaveric preservation practices required for the transfer of corpses in the different Autonomous Communities -Reglamentos de Policía Sanitaria Mortuoria- and national legislation are compared. The criteria taken into account have been: a) which sanitary practices are included in the regulations, b) which ones can be carried out in corpses posing a health risk, c) when they are compulsory to be carried out, d) when they can be carried out after death, and e) what professionals can carry them out and/or take responsibility for them. At the time of finishing the paper, a new mortuary regulation is being passed in Andalusia, as well as a decree from the Ministry of Health on technical and sanitary requirements concerning international transfer of corpses and human remains

Comparación de los efectos tafonómicos observados en dos estructuras funerarias de espacio vacío / The taphonomic effects comparison in two empty space burial structures

Introducción. La tafonomía ayuda a entender las cuestiones relacionadas con las modificaciones post mortem de los restos cadavéricos en los campos de la paleontología, la arqueología y la antropología forense. Por ello, el objetivo principal del proyecto experimental Taphos-m es generar un corpus en tafonomía que permita comprender qué agentes y procesos tafonómicos son los responsables de los efectos observados en diferentes contextos. Material y métodos. Pasados 3 años y medio desde su inhumación, se ha valorado el estado cadavérico de 2 cuerpos de Sus scrofa domestica enterrados en 2 estructuras vacías de características constructivas distintas, así como la distribución espacial que presentaban los elementos anatómicos. En caso de esqueletización, también se describe el estado de la superficie cortical de los huesos y la eventual fragmentación ósea. También se han llevado a cabo analíticas complementarias, como análisis histológico y patológico. Resultados. Los restos del animal enterrado en la tumba de piedra se encontraron en estado desecado, mientras que los restos inhumados en la tumba de tejas planas estaban prácticamente esqueletizados. Se observaron diferencias en el análisis de los efectos tafonómicos, sobre todo en relación con la distribución espacial de los elementos anatómicos, vinculados con la presencia de sedimento y el estado cadavérico. La lesión que presentaba uno de los animales en la extremidad trasera podría influir en el mantenimiento de la articulación anatómica. Conclusiones. Los datos meteorológicos del momento de la inhumación y las características de la tumba son variables que determinan la evolución y el estado cadavérico de los restos, pero no son las únicas, ya que las lesiones pueden suponer diferencias en la distribución espacial de los restos óseos y articulaciones anatómicas (AU)

Introduction. Taphonomy helps to understand the issues related to changes of the cadaveric remains in the frame of palaeontology and archaeology as well as in the frame of forensic anthropology. The first objective of the experimental project Taphos-m was to generate a corpus of information on taphonomy to know what taphonomic agents and process could be responsible for the observable effects in field. Materials and methods. The cadaveric state of Sus scrofa domestica remains and the spatial distribution of the anatomical elements has been described. In the case of skeletonization, the state of the cortical surface and fragmentation of the bones was evaluated too. Also the pathological and histological analysis has been observed. Results. The animal remains buried in the stone tomb were in dried state, while the remains buried in the tile tomb were skeletonized. There were differences in the observable taphonomic effects, particularly in the spatial distribution of the anatomical elements. The lesion in the leg of one animal could be responsible of the maintenance of anatomic articulation. Conclusions. Meteorological data during inhumation and the tomb characteristics are variables that determine the evolution and condition of the remains, but they are not the only ones: the pathological lesions may involve differences in the spatial distribution of the bones and anatomical articulations (AU)

No place, new places: death and its rituals in urban Asia.

In many land-scarce Asian cities, planning agencies have sought to reduce space for the dead to release land for the living, encouraging conversion from burial to cremation over several decades. This has caused secular principles privileging efficient land use to conflict with symbolic values invested in burial spaces. Over time, not only has cremation become more accepted, even columbaria have become overcrowded, and new forms of burials (sea and woodland burials) have emerged. As burial methods change, so too do commemorative rituals, including new on-line and mobile phone rituals. This paper traces the ways in which physical spaces for the dead in several east Asian cities have diminished and changed over time, the growth of virtual space for them, the accompanying discourses that influence these dynamics and the new rituals that emerge concomitantly with the contraction of land space.

Setting up an off-site emergency mortuary facility (EMF) to deal with a DVI incident: disaster victim management (DVM).

Forensic mortuaries in all Australian jurisdictions are dealing with increasing workloads, with routine cases regularly occupying greater than 50%, and often as much as 85%, of existing cold room body storage capacity, particularly over long weekends and during seasonal increases in respiratory infections. Hence the need to deal with a sudden influx of deceased persons or multiple body parts in a mass fatality incident would overwhelm most Australian forensic mortuaries, thereby requiring other means of body storage and processing. Exercise "Construct" was a joint South Australian Police (SAPol) and Forensic Science South Australia exercise designed to practice the establishment and construction of an emergency mortuary facility (EMF) to deal with a mass fatality incident and the subsequent disaster victim identification process. The aims of the exercise were to test preparedness, activation and construction processes relative to the establishment of an EMF. The exercise provided the opportunity to identify gaps in the capacity to successfully complete the tasks within the allotted time frames. The exercise reinforced the need to have a comprehensive and clearly documented process which must include a current list of suppliers who can deliver goods and services in a timely manner. The aim of this paper is to report on the exercise findings and share the experience with other jurisdictions. It will also provide other jurisdictions with the opportunity to consider whether the South Australian model will be useful to them in improving their own response when confronted with a mass fatality incident that may overwhelm existing local mortuary capacities and capabilities.

"The last thing that tells our story": the Roodepoort West Cemetery, 1958-2008.

This article attempts to capture some of the complexity in the way that memory, meaning and agenda interact in the history of the cemetery of Roodepoort West. Roodepoort West was the 'old location' where Africans and others lived until 1955, after which a gradual process of removals took place until 1967, when it was finally destroyed. However, not everything was lost of the old location. The cemetery remained, after unrest caused by the proposed removal of the local cemetery during the late 1950s persuaded the authorities to leave it alone. More recently, the cemetery has played a part in land restitution, becoming both a site of tension and remembrance. This article explores the many meanings attached to the old cemetery, and funerals more broadly, over a period of time beginning from the 1950s to 2005. By looking at the history of funerals, and the cemetery, new insights and an alternative understanding of what it meant to live in an urban area in Apartheid South Africa can be gained.

Confessions of a Wannabe (American Folklore Society Presidential Invited Plenary Address, October 2009).

This paper is a written rendering of a plenary address delivered at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society. Drawing on materials from his forthcoming book Confessions of a Wannabe, the author provides a personal account of the deeply emotional sense of responsibility, obligation, and reciprocity involved in long-term ethnographic research among Native American communities, particularly the Omaha and Pawnee tribes of Nebraska. The author details the ways in which personal relations with the people and communities he has observed have shaped his personal and professional life, and he calls into question the ideal of purportedly neutral or distanced ethnography. Details are provided of the author's experiences in converting his farm into an appropriate reburial site for repatriated Pawnee remains recovered under the aegis of the Native American Graves Repatriation and Protection Act (NAGPRA).

Technologies of the HIV/AIDS corpse.

In the early 1980s, unprecedented numbers of gay men and intravenous drug users began dying of what would later become known as HIV/AIDS. What the HIV/AIDS corpse posed was a direct challenge to the institutional controls developed by funeral directors to normalize and transform the dead body. How the funeral service industry reacted and changed in response to the emergence of the HIV/AIDS corpse offers an opportunity to re-examine the productive potential of the dead human body. My article examines the epidemic's production of what I call the HIV/AIDS corpse, and the institutional affects those corpses had on the US funeral service industry. The theoretical concept I use to analyze the productive qualities of the HIV/AIDS corpse is the technologies of the corpse. These technologies are the machines, laws, and institutions that control the corpse by classifying, organizing, and physically transforming it. What emerges from the institutional challenges posed by the HIV/AIDS corpse is a specific kind of dead body that offers political possibilities for both the concept of a queer body and the broader subject of human death.

[Burying family pets: legislation, risks, and recommendations]. / Begraven van (gezelschaps)dieren; wetgeving, mogelijke risico's en aanbevelingen.

At one point or other all pet owners are confronted with the death of their pet. To safeguard public health and to prevent the transmission of disease, there are regulations concerning the burial of family pets. This article focuses on relevant regulations and potential risks and provides recommendations for the burial of family pets.

[Cremation plant planning and related hygienic-sanitary aspects]. / Potenzialità dell'impianto di cremazione nell'ambito di una programmazione territoriale e relative problematiche igienico-sanitarie.

The number of cremators is set to grow in Italy owing to current increasing demand for cremation, as a system of burial as well as a system of disposal of non-decomposed human remains resulting from operations of exhumation (as provided by the Circular No. 10 of 31 July of 1998 of the Ministry of Health). Some indications on how town planners need to size up the cremation plant with regard to its capacity to face cremation demand, in order to avoid any hygienic-sanitary inconveniences are given. As a matter of fact, for planning the demand for cremation from Circular No. 10 of 31 July of 1998 it is necessary to assess the decomposition time in burial sites.

Law relating to pregnancy, stillbirths and miscarriages and disposal.

Brenda was 5 months' pregnant when she miscarried. She was seriously ill but when she recovered she asked for the foetal remains to be made available to be buried in her local churchyard. She subsequently discovered that they had been incinerated and she wished to sue the hospital.

Health and safety considerations following the death of a patient.

Arthur, who had spent all his life in Liverpool, came to live with his niece in Brighton. He was in his eighties and systematically prepared for his death. He told her that he would like to be cremated and the ashes returned to Liverpool. On his death in hospital, the family made arrangements for him to be cremated. Unfortunately no one remembered or checked about the fact that a heart pacemaker had been inserted many years before, and when questioned by funeral directors, no warnings were given by the family. The pacemaker exploded in the crematorium and the local authority who was responsible for its upkeep claimed compensation from the family or NHS trust. Who, if anyone, is liable?