"Recovery of HIV at Autopsy"

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

"Recovery of HIV at Autopsy"

New England Journal of Medicine (12/28/89) Vol. 321, No. 26, P. 1833
Henry, Keith, et al.

Abstract: Health care workers may be at risk of HIV exposure from a patient's bodily fluids even 18 hours after death, report Keith Henry and colleagues from St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center in St. Paul, Minn., and the University of Minnesota. The medical literature has yet to address the viability of the virus after death in assessing actual risk to personnel engaged in prosection, they write. The scientists report finding viable HIV in plasma from blood samples obtained at autopsy 18 hours after death, underscoring the need for care in handling postmortem specimens and body fluids, Henry and colleagues write.

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