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CDC officials issue guidelines for conducting autopsies in rabies cases
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CDC officials have issued guidelines for medical examiners to perform autopsies on rabies patients that call for full protective gear, as well as equipment to reduce aerosol generation, after an incident in which an autopsy was delayed because local pathologists feared for their own safety.
A 43-year-old man from Indiana died of rabies from what may have been a bat bite in October, and CDC officials were asked to perform the autopsy because local pathologists were concerned about the biosafety risks, according to a report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Although no cases of rabies transmission during autopsy have been reported and human-to-human transmission is rare, aerosol transmission has been confirmed in laboratory settings, CDC officials wrote.
Writing in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC officials said they hope the new recommendations can help those performing autopsies stay safe and increase opportunities to diagnose and address rabies cases.