Embalming fluid contains substances such as formalin, ethanol, phenol, and
other solvents to prevent decomposition temporarily. These agents disinfect,
preserve, and/or sanitize. The risk of contracting a disease such as
tuberculosis (TB) among persons, who are in close contact with recently
deceased people, is high and the risk varies according to occupation. Workers
at Anatomy Departments and embalmers are some of those people who are at
a greater risk of contracting tuberculosis carried by cadavers.
The question thus arises whether the penetration of formalin and other
embalming agents into the tissue infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(MTB) is sufficient to render the bacilli non-infectious. The aim is to test the
efficacy of the embalming fluid used at the department of Basic Medical Sciences (UFS) on eliminating Mycobacterium tuberculosis in human cadaver
lung tissue.
The cadavers were accompanied by their death certificates indicating the
cause of death. Only cadavers whose death certificate indicated that the cause
of death was TB, was selected to be included in the study. Closed needle
biopsies were performed on 20 cadavers to obtain lung tissue from the apical
and hilar areas. With the use of a pro-cut biopsy needle, a sample of lung
tissue was obtained by inserting the needle through the 3rd intercostal (hilar
sample) and the supraclavicular space (apical sample). The first sample was
taken before embalming. The second sample 3 weeks after embalming.
Tissue was then retrieved and deposited into a sterile specimen container, with
saline as transport medium, and transported to Pathcare Laboratory (Drs
Dietrich, Voigt, Mia, and partners) in Bloemfontein. The following diagnostic
tools were used by Pathcare: direct microscopy from aspirates (lungs in the
case of Pulmonary TB or from granulomatous lesions), MGIT culture,
identification using PCR techniques, if positive.
Before embalming 50% of the apical samples tested positive for MTB and 3
weeks after embalming none tested positive for MTB. Before embalming 40% of the samples taken from the area close to the hilus (perihilar), tested
positive for MTB, 3 weeks after embalming none tested positive. The results
show that 3 weeks after embalming none of the tested lung samples contained
viable MTB. Thirteen of the 20 cadavers tested did have a viable strain of
MTB before embalming occurred. It is of special interest to mention that one
cadaver still had viable MTB 36 days after death. According to previous
studies, after death, MTB can remain infectious for about 8 days in
unembalmed lung tissue and up to 14 days if stored between 2 - 4oC. From
this result, it is clear that MTB can survive in dead bodies with significant
post-mortem intervals.
It is evident from the results that the embalming fluid used at the department
of Basic Medical Sciences (UFS) renders the bacilli non-infectious, because
no growth was indicated 3 weeks after embalming
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-12072012-132929 |
| Date | 07 December 2012 |
| Creators | Correia, Janine Carla |
| Contributors | Dr HC de Villiers, Mr JL Steyl |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-12072012-132929/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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