UTS News Story

You can't just bury the problem by John Suter Linton


THE GREATEST THREATS FROM CEMETERIES ARE THEIR POTENTIAL FOR BACTERIAL AND VIRAL POLLUTION During the recent Iraq war, America, at one stage, considered the possibility of not shipping home any of her dead who fell victim to chemical or biological attack. The reason being the potential risk of spreading the pathogen or chemical and infecting populations across the United States, even after the contaminated bodies has been buried. “Luckily, no bacterial or chemical weapons were used, but with the continual threat of terrorism facing Coalition partners, is Australia ready to deal with such an incident?” This is the question UTS Science lecturer, Boyd Dent - a geoscientist who has a special interest in medical geology - will pose at the next UTS Science Forum on the theme Death and Resurrection. “As an example, Anthrax spores have survived in bone buried in soil for about 200 years, they survived in Louis Pasteur‘s cupboard for 68 years, while inactive smallpox has survived at least 150 years in a coffin”. Dent is concerned that little is known and more research is needed to determine the risk levels and how best to manage bodies contaminated with pathogens - answers he hopes to find before an incident occurs. “In my recent PhD thesis on a national study of cemetery groundwaters I concluded that the greatest likely threats from cemeteries was in the nature of their potential for bacterial and viral pollution - the migration of pathogens off-site - if they were not properly investigated, planned, sited and managed,” Dent warned. “There is still an urgent need for further research on the issue of viral characterisation of the soils and groundwater of these places and consideration of the migration of pathogens off-site”. “Other related issues, which vary in their significance depending on the country and situation involved, include the disturbance or surfacing of long-buried pathogens like anthrax, tuberculosis, and smallpox”. “Conventional wisdom teaches that these organisms become an insignificant matter with time, particularly since viruses generally seem to require living cells to invade in order to survive, and particularly since they are buried. But the scant evidence available doesn't support this position for all of the time and all situations”. Dent also cites the recent work on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome known as SARS for consideration of the survival of viruses outside the human body. “And who knows about Mycobacterium tuberculosis? Coincidentally, tuberculosis is on the increase again in Australia”. Sadly and alarmingly, Dent poses the questions; “What if we had the sudden need for mass graves for several thousand victims?” “How would we do it? Would the chemical or biological agent migrate in the soil or groundwater? Would compulsory cremation be better?” Dent raises lots of new policy, management and organisational issues, and more importantly the big question, “are we ready?” And, “Who would be in control and make the difficult decisions?” Let's hope we find the answers and learn through research, and not from experience. Ref: UTS: News, 2003, You can't just bury the problem, (Issue No.09: 16 June - 17 July), p.5