title: Cerebrospinal fluid PCR analysis and biochemistry in bodies with severe decomposition.
abstract: The aim of this study was to assess whether Neisseria meningitidis, Listeria monocytogenes, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae can be identified using the polymerase chain reaction technique in the cerebrospinal fluid of severely decomposed bodies with known, noninfectious causes of death or whether postmortem changes can lead to false positive results and thus erroneous diagnostic information. Biochemical investigations, postmortem bacteriology and real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis in cerebrospinal fluid were performed in a series of medico-legal autopsies that included noninfectious causes of death with decomposition, bacterial meningitis without decomposition, bacterial meningitis with decomposition, low respiratory tract infections with decomposition and abdominal infections with decomposition. In noninfectious causes of death with decomposition, postmortem investigations failed to reveal results consistent with generalized inflammation or bacterial infections at the time of death. Real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis in cerebrospinal fluid did not identify the studied bacteria in any of these cases. The results of this study highlight the usefulness of molecular approaches in bacteriology as well as the use of alternative biological samples in postmortem biochemistry in order to obtain suitable information even in corpses with severe decompositional changes.
authors.affiliation: University Center of Legal Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Rue du Bugnon 21, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: cristian.palmiere@chuv.ch.
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Palmiere
authors.affiliation: Service d'Anatomie Pathologique et Médecine Légale, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vanhaebost
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Legale, Università degli Studi di Genova, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ventura
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Legale, Università degli Studi di Genova, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonsignore
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Patologia e Medicina Legale, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca Reggiani
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Bonetti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002423:Cause of Death; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006193:Haemophilus influenzae; D006801:Humans; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes; D008297:Male; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial
keywords: Cerebrospinal fluid; Decompositional changes; Neisseria meningitidis; Postmortem biochemistry; Postmortem microbiology