title: The interest of postmortem bacteriology in putrefied bodies.
abstract: A 27-year-old man was found dead in an advanced decomposition stage at home. On external examination, his body showed petechial hemorrhages of the skin. At autopsy, petechial hemorrhages of the epicardium were found, but no sign of meningitis was detected. Toxicological investigations remained negative. Bacteriological conventional analyses showed no significant result. Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B was finally isolated on cerebrospinal fluid by a specific real-time polymerase chain reaction. To our knowledge, there are no available data about the postmortem diagnosis of an infectious cause of death in a decomposed corpse. In such situations, the polymicrobial overgrowth usually hampers the interpretation of bacteriological conventional methods and questions their diagnostic value. Such molecular bacteriological approaches appear to constitute an important diagnostic tool for forensic scientists and should be widely processed in case of suspected infectious death or sudden death whatever the postmortem interval.
authors.affiliation: Institut Universitaire de Médecine Légale, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France. geraldine.maujean@chu-lyon.fr
authors.forename: Géraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Maujean
authors.forename: Tiphaine
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guinet
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fanton
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Malicier
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000382:microbiology; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008585:Meningitis, Meningococcal / Q000175:diagnosis*; D038541:Neisseria meningitidis, Serogroup B / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D011693:Purpura / Q000473:pathology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
keywords: Neisseria meningitidis; autopsy; forensic science; infectious cause of death; molecular bacteriology; postmortem decomposition