http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20081030-169216/DoH-official-downplays-risks-to-divers
The only 2 points that story was making are not accurate.
Decomposing corpses in sea water most certainly DO carry disease. If this person is a medical practitioner, they should be immediately stripped of any ability to work in the medical field. They are dangerous. Corpses simply don’t sublimate in the environment… if they’re decomposing then there’s millions of different organisms eating away and releasing toxins. Bodies smell bad from toxins. If this person thinks his statement is true, then it would be impossible to catch salmonella from simply handling rotten chicken. But we all know, salmonella is a disease that can be caught from simply handling chicken w/o ingesting it.
Decompression Sickness (DCS): His description of what causes it is grossly inadequate. Its like a small child explaining paired quantum Hall states. Its caused by outgassing.. only that. Theres hundreds of ways that happens and rising swiftly is only one (and not the most common). The statement about “the sudden decrease in pressure causes…” is completely false. Decrease in pressure causes no such events. Those are a small amount of the symptoms of DCS that usually show up many, many hours after DCS starts. Rapid decrease in pressure itself does not EVER cause those symptoms.
note: “sudden decrease in pressure” does not mean the same thing as “decompression”. You can drop to 35 meters fast and rise again fast completely safely. Thats a sudden decrease in pressure of surrounding water. Decompression is after a body has been deep enough long enough to absorb a huge volume of nitrogen gas into the tissues. Its not symantics – its simple english.
Not to be picking nits, but DCS has never been called ‘divers disease’ except by online websites by people that have nothing to do with diving. Its unfortunate that person is making statements on a topic about which he is clearly unfamiliar with.
———-story————–
DoH official downplays risks to divers
MANILA, Philippines–Divers retrieving trapped bodies inside the capsized MV Princess of the Stars are more susceptible to getting “diver’s disease” than exposure to decomposing cadavers, according to a health official.
Dr. Eric Tayag, chief of the Department of Health’s National Epidemiology Center, said the divers of the salvor company Harbor Star would not get diseases from handling the corpses.
Although the cadavers smell foul and are in advanced state of decomposition, they can no longer spread germs since they perish the moment the host body dies, according to Tayag.
“Divers are safe because they’re wearing protective gears,” he said.
“What they should watch out for is ‘decompression sickness’ or the so-called diver’s disease. That’s why their time underwater is limited,” said Tayag, who was at the site when the retrieval operations began on Sunday.
Decompression sickness happens when a diver returns to the surface quickly or does not carry out decompression stops after a long or deep dive.
The sudden decrease in pressure causes pain usually in the joints and skin itching, and in more serious cases, paralysis and even death.
Tayag said that more than the physical hardship, the divers have to contend with the psychological trauma of being subjected to ghastly sights of decomposing bodies for hours every day for the two-week duration of the operation.
After their work is done, the divers would all undergo “debriefing” sessions to help them get over the experience, Tayag said.
“We want to make sure in the future they won’t have bad memories.”
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