In Europe, the first case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the first COVID-19-related death were reported in France on January 24th and February 15th, 2020, respectively. Officially, the first case of COVID-19 infection in the Republic of Serbia was registered on March 6th. Herein, we presented the first case of retrospective detection of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the post-mortem-obtained vitreous humor (VH), which took place on February 5th, 2020. This is the first death in Europe proven to be caused by COVID-19 by means of post-mortem histopathological and molecular analyses. Based on this finding, it appears that SARS-CoV-2 has been spreading faster and started spreading much earlier than it had been considered and that COVID-19 was probably the cause of the much-reported pneumonia of unknown origin in January and February 2020.

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Two cases of intestinal obstruction in the mentally disabled are reported. The first case concerns 61-year-old oligophrenic woman who resided in a nursing home, where she was found hypotensive and unresponsive. Upon opening the peritoneal cavity at autopsy, extremely dilated (measuring on average 12 cm in diameter) loops of the colon emerged- they compressed the small intestine and other intraperitoneal organs, lifting both hemidiaphragms deep into the pleural cavity. Lodged firmly into the rectum, a partly disintegrated sanitary pad was found. In the second case, young man with Down syndrome was found dead in his room in a nursing facility. At autopsy, a massively dilated stomach and intestinal loops emerged, interposing one of the loops between the liver and right hemidiaphragm (pushing it to the 3rd intercostal space). This was caused by a volvulus - the cecum, the entire ascending colon and hepatic flexure were gangrenous, dilated (the maximum diameter was 15 cm) and twisted in a full circle around the mesenteric attachment. There were no signs of colon perforation. In both cases, intellectual disability was at the core of poor communication and delayed medical treatment, which led to a fatal outcome. Caregivers must be trained to recognize distress in the mentally disabled, especially since the symptoms and signs of gastrointestinal diseases may be subtle, or at least less recognizable. By performing careful physical examination medical staff should search more cautiously for these signs. Any suspicion of mistreatment or neglect of the mentally impaired requires a medico-legal investigation and autopsy.

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The results of this research may give useful information about the individuals with the highest suicidal risk in order to alleviate the consequences of war psychotraumas in veterans and prevent their growth into a permanent handicap or suicide.