Infection control

It's common practice in the UK not to reveal the true cause of death on death certificates.
A simple example is that it may state the cause of death as heart failure when in fact the infection that subsequently brought on the heart failure was MRSA.
Typical pathogens that cause big problems in the UK, but not necessarily death, are MRSA, Clostridium Difficile and Norovirus. Also TB is the fastest growing infection when years ago it had almost been eliminated here.
Infection control is, in many cases, a simple matter of awareness and common sense.
The problem is that bugs can't be seen and as a consequence they are not considered as a serious threat.
Over-use of antibiotics has also been a problem for many years and pathogens have steadily built up resistance to them with many new strains developing.
Funeral directors and embalmers are in a high risk category.
The main problem here is that in many instances the funeral director or embalmer does not know the cause of death and they certainly don't know whether or not dangerous pathogens may be present.
Also, and this is the same with domestic products, many of the products used as cleaners and disinfectants have not been tested to rigorous standards.
For example, a bactericide will not kill viruses, spores and fungi yet there is a common misconception that the use of a disinfectant is good enough.
HIV, Hepatitis B and C, Norovirus and Influenza are viruses and Clostridium Difficile is both a bacteria and a spore so it could be quite possible to use a bactericide and not kill any of these.
Awareness and education is vital and thankfully it appears that funeral directors and embalmers are progressively taking infection control seriously.