Bacterial Translocation and Sample Contamination in Postmortem Microbiological Analyses

The diagnostic value of postmortem bacteriology has been discussed controversially for decades. In the study herein, contamination during sampling procedures and postmortem translocation were investigated to interpret postmortem microbiology results. One hundred medicolegal autopsy cases in total were included. Radiology, histology, bacteriology, and biochemistry were performed in all cases. Based on all investigation findings, 4 groups of cases were identified: death unrelated to infection, true infections, false positive (contamination during sampling procedures, postmortem translocation and mixed situations), and undetermined. The results of this study indicate that postmortem bacteriology provides useful data supporting infection-related deaths, especially when potentially significant observations are accompanied by consistent autopsy, histology, and biochemistry. Result interpretation requires careful evaluation of number and type of isolated microorganisms.