# What Diseases Could You Get From A Corpse? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243 "2015-08-07T16:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/1 "2015-08-07T16:31:01Z")
I read about a mortician who didn’t use proper embalming techniques and caught TB from the deceased he was preparing. What kind of diseases stick around long enough so if someone died from it, you could dig it up say a year or longer and still might be able to get it, if you say handled the corpse. And no, I don’t need an answer quickly 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/2 "2015-08-07T17:13:08Z")
compelled to note user name/thread topic. good job…I think… ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/3 "2015-08-07T17:35:01Z")
I seem to recall Ebola can be transmitted that way, so proper disposal is really important. If that is outdated, I am sure someone will correct me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/4 "2015-08-07T18:25:36Z")
My guess (uneducated) is “whatever communicable diseases the deceased had, if the vector is still practical for a dead person.” A disease with airborne transmission needs a living victim to cough, sneeze, etc. to aerosolize the pathogen. Corpses don’t do that. A pathogen that spreads by fluid contact would still be a risk, since a fresh corpse still has infected body fluids. (Hence the terrible spread of ebola in West Africa recently, partly blamed on funerary practices that encouraged the family to put themselves in contact with the decedent’s infected body fluids.) ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/5 "2015-08-07T19:13:47Z")
[This](http://wa-archaeology.com/2247-crypt-archaeology-15-important-health-and-safety-issues/) page on the excavation of human remains within crypts and burial vaults lists the dangers of following diseases: “smallpox scabs, anthrax, cholera, bubonic plague, relapsing fever & typhys”. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/6 "2015-08-07T19:26:31Z")
I’m also aware that old (1918) frozen corpses in the tundra caused concern for bringing back serious influenza viruses. I don’t know if that was resolved to be true or not ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/7 "2015-08-07T19:43:42Z")
Ick. Cooties, for sure. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/8 "2015-08-07T20:11:16Z")
Wasn’t there concern about long dead bodies, or preserved tissue samples of smallpox deaths still carrying live virus? > [@](#): > > In March 2004 smallpox scabs were found tucked inside an envelope in a book on Civil War medicine in Santa Fe, New Mexico.[88] The envelope was labeled as containing scabs from a vaccination and gave scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an opportunity to study the history of smallpox vaccination in the U.S. > > In July 2014 several vials of smallpox were discovered in an FDA laboratory at the National Institutes of Health location in Bethesda, Maryland.[89] > **[Smallpox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox)** > > Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the global eradication of the disease in 1980, making smallpox the only human disease to have been eradicated to date. > The initial symptoms of the disease included fever and vomiting. This was followed by formation of ulcers in the mouth and a sk... Some viruses and bacteria that form spores can survive a shockingly long time, canine parvovirus can survive 7 years in soil and reinfect new dogs. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/9 "2015-08-07T21:49:18Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I’m also aware that old (1918) frozen corpses in the tundra caused concern for bringing back serious influenza viruses. I don’t know if that was resolved to be true or not I believe that was the intended purpose – they wanted to find actual samples of the 1918 influenza virus for study. As I understand it, there are no actual samples available to use modern test methods on, and scientists don’t really know what strain if influenza that was or why it was so virulent. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/10 "2015-08-07T21:51:14Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Ick. Cooties, for sure. And a serious case of the creeps. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/11 "2015-08-07T22:22:45Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > As I understand it, there are no actual samples available to use modern test methods on, and scientists don’t really know what strain if influenza that was or why it was so virulent. [According to **this Wiki article**](http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Spanish_Flu), it was found in 1998. Further work was done during the 20-oughts, and “On October 5, 2005[URL=“[http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/2005](http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/2005)”] researchers announced that the genetic sequence of the 1918 flu strain had been reconstructed using historic tissue samples.” > [@](#): > > In February 1998, The Molecular Pathology Division of the US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) recovered samples of the 1918 influenza from the frozen corpse of a Native Alaskan woman buried for nearly eight decades in permafrost near Brevig Mission, Alaska. Brevig Mission lost approximately 85% of its population to the Spanish flu in November 1918. One of the four recovered samples contained viable genetic material of the virus. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/12 "2015-08-07T22:48:56Z")
Since prions are their own weird form of protein un-life , I’m guessing you can get Kreuzfeld-Jacob and/or Kuru from a corpse that’s not old enough for the brain to have turned to mush - or a well-preserved (i.e. flash frozen) one. Of course, you’d also have to \*eat \*that brain. So you’d have to be already a sick, sick man :). ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/13 "2015-08-07T22:52:53Z")
Anthrax spores stick around for quite a long time, which is why it’s a potential bioweapon. Yellow fever can also be transmitted postmortem, for the same reason Ebola can be - the various bodily discharges are loaded with live virus. “Childbed fever” (puerperal sepsis) can also be transmitted after death. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/14 "2015-08-07T22:58:52Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Since prions are their own weird form of protein un-life , I’m guessing you can get Kreuzfeld-Jacob and/or Kuru from a corpse that’s not old enough for the brain to have turned to mush - or a well-preserved (i.e. flash frozen) one. > > Of course, you’d also have to \*eat \*that brain. So you’d have to be already a sick, sick man :). I believe kuru can be transmitted by merely handling an infected brain, if you have open cuts or sores on your hands. So always wear gloves while you’re dismembering corpses. OMG, is [this](http://www.kurufootwear.com) the world’s worst brand name? –Mark ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/15 "2015-08-09T04:48:40Z")
I imagine it depends on how old the corpse is. Still above room temperature? Probably anything you could catch were they not dead. The following contains an anecdote taken from a newspaper published in 1880 about disease spreading from a corpse: it sounds like a lot like the poor guy contracted gas gangrene. It’s a morbidly interesting read but if you are squeamish at all about things like, well, gas gangrene, or twisting the head off a corpse, you probably want to give this one a pass. [Proceed with caution.](http://strangeco.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/newspaper-clipping-of-day.html) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/16 "2015-08-11T02:43:12Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Ick. Cooties, for sure. I wouldn’t be caught dead with a necrophiliac. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/17 "2015-08-11T12:04:28Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Since prions are their own weird form of protein un-life , I’m guessing you can get Kreuzfeld-Jacob and/or Kuru from a corpse that’s not old enough for the brain to have turned to mush - or a well-preserved (i.e. flash frozen) one. > > Of course, you’d also have to \*eat \*that brain. So you’d have to be already a sick, sick man :). Mortician here. Yes, Kreuzfeld-Jacob is possible to get, especially if you handle the brain, such as when embalming an autopsied body. We’re told you can pass it to yourself through your eyes. Others we’re prone to are Hep C (anyone coming into contact with remains or bodily fluids has to be vaccinated), scabies, and MRSA. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/18 "2015-08-11T12:45:29Z")
Unless Harvey knows something I don’t, there currently is no commercially available vaccine for hepatitis C (immunization against hepatitis B is available). Hep C vaccines are in the research/testing phase. i really did try to stay out of this thread. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/19 "2015-08-11T13:36:58Z")
I assume by “vaccine” he means a non-vaccine injection like Inferon. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243/20 "2015-08-11T13:39:50Z")
Reminds me of the story of a young necrophiliac who achieved his boyhood ambition by becoming coroner. (Cribbed from Tom Lehrer.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-diseases-could-you-get-from-a-corpse/727243.md?page=2)