Pathological autopsies in COVID-19 fatalities: An urgent need of the hour

Abstract

With the advent of COVID-19 as a pandemic, researchers and medical communities have taken up the quest to answer many  questions. The science of the 21st century is seen to rely more on genetically modified animal models and cell lines for understanding  the virus-host interactions and pathogenesis. This has put a shadow on basic yet effective conventional ways of conducting autopsy  studies, collecting tissue samples, and examining them under a microscope. In this very moment of crisis, researchers are advised to  study the disease in its natural micro-environment. Though newer advances in science and technology can help us in constructing the  road ahead but that road can tread us to blind ends, without the guiding vision provided by a pathological autopsy.