Autopsy Microbiology

Abstract

The pathologist may be tempted to obtainmultiple cultures while performing anautopsy, considering the variety of tissues and fluids that areavailable to him or her. However, the medical literature is replete with examples of discrepancies between clinical evidence of infection and postmortem culture results (1–6). These discrepancies are attributed to contamination during specimen collection (5, 6), transmigration of bacteria from the gut into surrounding tissues and blood (2, 4), and even the presence of indigenous bacteria in normal, healthy tissue (7). Of these explanations, contamination is most frequently implicated and remains a major obstacle in meaningful postmortem microbiology. The theory of transmigration has never been substantiated. Articles published as early as 1921 offered evidence to disprove it (8). As for the presence of indigenous bacteria in normal tissue, this theory has never gained much support. An exhaustive review of postmortem bacteriology can be found in references 9 and 10.