Recent influenza virus A infections in forensic cases of sudden unexplained death.
84 forensic necropsy cases with a history of sudden unexpected death and where no acceptable cause of death was found at autopsy (= cases of sudden unexplained death, SUD) were found to have a significantly higher rate of influenza A (H 3 N 2) infection than did matched controls of the general population and a group of forensic necropsy cases with known cause of death (NON-SUD cases). By contrast, the group of SUD cases was found to have no significantly increased infection rate with influenza H 1 N 1 and B virus, parainfluenza viruses, RS virus, adenovirus, and cytomegalovirus. The influenza A associated SUD cases had a significantly higher rate of pathological and histological findings previously described for cases of primary viral pneumonia than did SUD cases without recent influenza A infection and NON-SUD cases. These findings suggest that virological examination of SUD cases could be helpful in order to determine the probable cause of death. A considerable portion of the influenza associated SUD cases occurred during interepidemic influenza periods. Therefore, such cases could be a useful source for monitoring the interepidemic spread of influenza virus.
D001344:Autopsy; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D005860:Germany, West; D006801:Humans; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000209:etiology; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000209:etiology; D012621:Seasons; D013557:Switzerland