ABSTRACT
According to the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), a healthy human body contains ten times more microbes than human cells. Microbial communities colonize different organs of the body, playing fundamental roles both in human health and disease. Despite the vast scientific knowledge of the role of microbial communities in a living body, little is known at present about microbial changes occurring after death, thus leading many authors to investigate the composition of the thanatomicrobiome and its potential applications in the forensic field. The aim of the following review is to provide a general overview of the advances of postmortem microbiology research, mainly focusing on the role of microbiological investigations carried out on internal organs and fluids. To this end, a total of 19 studies have been sistematically reviewed, each one chosen according to specific inclusion/exclusion criteria. The selected studies assess the contribution of contamination, postmortem transmigration and agonal spread to microbial isolation from dead body samples, and shed light on the role of postmortem microbiological investigations in several forensic fields, such as cause of death or PMI determination.
Subject(s)
Body Fluids/microbiology , Brain/microbiology , Digestive System/microbiology , Forensic Medicine , Heart/microbiology , Microbiota , Postmortem Changes , Skin/microbiology , Adult , Aged , Cause of Death , Databases, Bibliographic , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Time FactorsABSTRACT
One of the most used cephalosporin in clinical practice is ceftriaxone. Anaphylaxis due to the administration of ceftriaxone is considered a rare event. Here, we report a case of fatal anaphylactic shock after the administration of ceftriaxone in a child who had tolerated the drug in past exposures. The allergic pathogenesis is sustained by the clinical data (short time between the inoculation of the drug and the onset of the symptoms; past exposure to the same molecule and probable sensitization) and the postmortem examination findings (polivisceral congestion and intense eosinophilia found in the histological examination).
Subject(s)
Anaphylaxis/chemically induced , Anti-Bacterial Agents/adverse effects , Ceftriaxone/adverse effects , Drug Hypersensitivity/etiology , Anaphylaxis/diagnosis , Anaphylaxis/immunology , Anti-Bacterial Agents/immunology , Autopsy/methods , Ceftriaxone/immunology , Child, Preschool , Drug Hypersensitivity/immunology , Fatal Outcome , Humans , Male , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Many women in the world are still undergoing female genital mutilations (FGMs) even if in almost all the countries, the practice of FGM is illegal. The increase of immigration, particularly from African Countries, to Europe, and Italy too, led to consider this phenomenon with particular attention and skill. All the operators in health services need to know the different types of FGMs and the related complications and the psychological and sexual sequels. Urological complications, in particular, are not rare and the changing anatomy of the external genital apparatus can also make the catheter insertion sometimes difficult. This review analyzes the epidemiology of FGMs, the reasons why the practice is still made, the complications, the ethical, and the principal legal aspects of this practise that must be hopefully early banned.
Subject(s)
Circumcision, Female/ethics , Circumcision, Female/legislation & jurisprudence , Female Urogenital Diseases/etiology , Postoperative Complications/etiology , Circumcision, Female/adverse effects , Female , Female Urogenital Diseases/therapy , Humans , Postoperative Complications/therapyABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Due to admitted limits of autopsy-based studies in the diagnosis of drowning, virtopsy is considered the new imaging horizon in these post-mortem studies. The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of virtopsy performed through computed tomography (CT) in the forensic diagnosis of drowning. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively examined the CT data of four cadavers recovered from sea water and suspected to have died by drowning. Each patient underwent a full-body post-mortem CT scan, and then a traditional autopsy. RESULTS: All the cadavers showed fluid in the airways and patchy ground-glass opacities in the lung. Only one patient had no fluid in the digestive tract; this patient had a left parietal bone fracture with a large gap and other multiple bone fractures (nose, clavicle, first rib and patella). One of the three patients who had fluid in the digestive tract had no fluid in the paranasal sinuses. This latter patient showed cerebral oedema with subarachnoid and intraventricular haemorrhage, multiple bone fractures (orbital floor, ribs, sacrum and acetabular edge) and air in the heart, in the aorta and in bowel loops. CONCLUSION: To date, there are no autopsy findings pathognomonic of drowning. This study proves that virtopsy is a useful tool in the diagnosis of drowning in that it allows us to understand if the victim was alive or dead when he entered the water and if the cause of death was drowning.