Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Are human identification methods effectively utilised? a retrospective review of unidentified remains between 2019-2020 at Salt River mortuary, Cape Town, South Africa
Unidentified human remains (UHRs) are a global issue, particularly in developing nations. Various identification methods exist ranging from visual recognition to DNA profiling. While DNA is utilised at Salt River Mortuary (SRM), there is slow turnaround and seldom feedback from the state laboratory....
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Department of Pathology
2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613149519151104 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Dharamdev, Kisharia |
| author2 | Heathfield, Laura |
| author_browse | Dharamdev, Kisharia Heathfield, Laura |
| author_facet | Heathfield, Laura Dharamdev, Kisharia |
| author_sort | Dharamdev, Kisharia |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Unidentified human remains (UHRs) are a global issue, particularly in developing nations. Various identification methods exist ranging from visual recognition to DNA profiling. While DNA is utilised at Salt River Mortuary (SRM), there is slow turnaround and seldom feedback from the state laboratory. Thus in 2020, SRM began submitting samples for DNA profiling to a private laboratory (Unistel) as well. It is currently unknown whether this agreement has improved identification outcomes. To address this, post-mortem records from 7672 cases admitted to SRM in 2019 and 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Of those, 1101 cases (14.4%) had unconfirmed identities seven days after admission. Subsequently, 84.7% (n=933/1101) were identified using visual recognition (86.3%; n=805/933) with requests in fingerprint analysis (74.3%; n=693/933) and success rate of DNA profiling slightly higher in 2020 (45 %; n=117/260) compared to 2019 (42 %; n=120/286); with 15.3% (n=168/1101) of decedents remaining unidentified (UHRs). Of the 168 UHRs, DNA profiling was requested in 69% (n=116/168) and notably, 19% (n=32/168) had no identification attempts with stillbirth and non-viable cases accounting for 68.8% (n=22/32) of these. On average, DNA profiling was requested within 27 days of post-mortem in 2020. Retrospective DNA profiling of 2019 UHR cases (29.9%) was requested following the Unistel agreement. Where UHR DNA profiling was requested from Unistel, reports were obtained in 37.9% (n=44/116). However, DNA profiles from Unistel were not uploaded onto the National Forensic DNA Database of South Africa, which limits the value of DNA as an identification tool in cases without an alleged family member available for comparison. The remainder of cases were sent to the state laboratory (n=72/116), but only 8.3% (n=6/72) of reports were received. These findings indicate that using a private laboratory improved the success rate of DNA for identification at SRM, when kinship analysis was possible. Still, improved collaboration between private and state DNA laboratories is required to facilitate investigative leads using the DNA database. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41588 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:31:31.816Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Department of Pathology |
| publisherStr | Department of Pathology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41588 Are human identification methods effectively utilised? a retrospective review of unidentified remains between 2019-2020 at Salt River mortuary, Cape Town, South Africa Dharamdev, Kisharia Heathfield, Laura Biomedical Forensic Science Unidentified human remains (UHRs) are a global issue, particularly in developing nations. Various identification methods exist ranging from visual recognition to DNA profiling. While DNA is utilised at Salt River Mortuary (SRM), there is slow turnaround and seldom feedback from the state laboratory. Thus in 2020, SRM began submitting samples for DNA profiling to a private laboratory (Unistel) as well. It is currently unknown whether this agreement has improved identification outcomes. To address this, post-mortem records from 7672 cases admitted to SRM in 2019 and 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Of those, 1101 cases (14.4%) had unconfirmed identities seven days after admission. Subsequently, 84.7% (n=933/1101) were identified using visual recognition (86.3%; n=805/933) with requests in fingerprint analysis (74.3%; n=693/933) and success rate of DNA profiling slightly higher in 2020 (45 %; n=117/260) compared to 2019 (42 %; n=120/286); with 15.3% (n=168/1101) of decedents remaining unidentified (UHRs). Of the 168 UHRs, DNA profiling was requested in 69% (n=116/168) and notably, 19% (n=32/168) had no identification attempts with stillbirth and non-viable cases accounting for 68.8% (n=22/32) of these. On average, DNA profiling was requested within 27 days of post-mortem in 2020. Retrospective DNA profiling of 2019 UHR cases (29.9%) was requested following the Unistel agreement. Where UHR DNA profiling was requested from Unistel, reports were obtained in 37.9% (n=44/116). However, DNA profiles from Unistel were not uploaded onto the National Forensic DNA Database of South Africa, which limits the value of DNA as an identification tool in cases without an alleged family member available for comparison. The remainder of cases were sent to the state laboratory (n=72/116), but only 8.3% (n=6/72) of reports were received. These findings indicate that using a private laboratory improved the success rate of DNA for identification at SRM, when kinship analysis was possible. Still, improved collaboration between private and state DNA laboratories is required to facilitate investigative leads using the DNA database. 2025-08-15T12:41:37Z 2025-08-15T12:41:37Z 2025 2025-08-06T12:16:48Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41588 en eng application/pdf Department of Pathology Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Biomedical Forensic Science Dharamdev, Kisharia Are human identification methods effectively utilised? a retrospective review of unidentified remains between 2019-2020 at Salt River mortuary, Cape Town, South Africa |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Are human identification methods effectively utilised? a retrospective review of unidentified remains between 2019-2020 at Salt River mortuary, Cape Town, South Africa |
| title_full | Are human identification methods effectively utilised? a retrospective review of unidentified remains between 2019-2020 at Salt River mortuary, Cape Town, South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Are human identification methods effectively utilised? a retrospective review of unidentified remains between 2019-2020 at Salt River mortuary, Cape Town, South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are human identification methods effectively utilised? a retrospective review of unidentified remains between 2019-2020 at Salt River mortuary, Cape Town, South Africa |
| title_short | Are human identification methods effectively utilised? a retrospective review of unidentified remains between 2019-2020 at Salt River mortuary, Cape Town, South Africa |
| title_sort | are human identification methods effectively utilised a retrospective review of unidentified remains between 2019 2020 at salt river mortuary cape town south africa |
| topic | Biomedical Forensic Science |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41588 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dharamdevkisharia arehumanidentificationmethodseffectivelyutilisedaretrospectivereviewofunidentifiedremainsbetween20192020atsaltrivermortuarycapetownsouthafrica |