YES.....it is a real and alive problem......because this is also the way of NA burials in many places; I speak of the NM Pueblos.....one of the Pueblos had a real concern regarding smallpox...so did not use that cemetery any more.... also..wasn't there a case on a body found in Greenland and the 1918 flu virus was still active.....or potentially active??? Sue is right about the arsenic and there was discussion about that on this site a year or more ago. It is a real concern regarding NA Artifacts because arsenic as well as other home "preservatives" were used by those anthro/archeology guys/gals ..out in the field...which is why we have contaminated artifacts today....sigh~~~ Marilynn in NM