Tatbir

The mourning ceremonies which involve the congregational spilling of human blood via methods such as Tatbir and Zanjeer, are very unhygienic and are a health hazard. The ceremonies involve men striking themselves with blades, causing blood to spill all over the surrounding environment and often onto other mourners who have open wounds.

Blood can carry some very dangerous pathogens including the following:

• Hepatitis B (HBV).
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
• Hepatitis C (HCV).
• Syphilis.
• Malaria.
• Brucellosis.
• Babeosis.
• Leptospirosis.
• Arborviral Infections.
• Relapsing Fever.
• Creutzfeld-Jacobs Disease (Mad Cow disease).
• Viral Hemorrahgic Fever (Ebola virus).

Some of the above are deadly and have no known cure. Hepatitis B can survive on surfaces for up to several days, and in dried blood for up to a week. Blood mourning gatherings put people at risk to these and other dangerous diseases. It is almost impossible to impose good hygiene in these environments and individual blood mourners generally do not implement the any hygiene procedures. Blood is splattered around the environment, and the blades and other surfaces are not decontaminated. Some mourners also share blades.

Some of these acts also carry the possibility of incurring other forms of harm, such as: infections to wounds, skeletal damage, damage to nerves & veins. There have also been a few reports of deaths due to these acts.