agar and Drowning

We previously applied our method of detecting marine or freshwater bacterioplankton (bacteria) in the blood of immersed victims as a marker of drowning. However, we did not confirm the absence of post-mortem bacterial invasion during immersion. Here we examined the nature of bacterioplankton in blood samples from 21 immersed and 4 non-immersed cadavers. We found only freshwater bacterioplankton in the blood of two victims that were retrieved from the sea or an estuary inhabited by marine bacterioplankton even though one victim was highly putrefied. The results of diatom testing suggested that these two victims had drowned in fresh or brackish water with low salinity and then flowed out to the estuary or the sea. Two others were submerged in water, but representative bacterioplankton were undetectable in their blood although one victim was highly putrefied. Autopsy findings and the results of diatom tests did not indicate that the cause of death was drowning. As in previous studies, we identified freshwater bacterioplankton in the blood of seven other victims that had drowned in freshwater, marine bacterioplankton in the blood of four victims that had drowned in seawater and none in four victims found on land that had died by means other than drowning. Bacterioplankton in the blood of drowned victims appears to reflect the type of water aspirated and blood does not become easily contaminated with bacteria post-mortem even in decomposed bodies.

Topics: Adult; Agar; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Animals; Bacteria; Cadaver; Culture Media; Diatoms; Drowning; Forensic Pathology; Fresh Water; Humans; Immersion; Kidney; Liver; Lung; Middle Aged; Plankton; Postmortem Changes; Rivers; Seawater

We measured bacterioplankton in blood from cadavers retrieved from the sea (n=12), near estuaries (n=4), rivers (fresh water, n=8) and from bathtubs (n=4) as well as from non-drowned victims (n=10) discovered near aquatic environments. Blood from 11 victims drowned in seawater developed bioluminescent and/or blue colonies (oxidase test positive) on selective media containing 2-4% NaCl. Homology analyses of the 16S rRNA gene showed that all of them were marine bacteria (genera: Photobacterium, Vibrio, Shewanella, Psychrobacter). Blood from all victims drowned in rivers generated blue colonies on plates containing 3%, but not 4% NaCl. Homology analyses showed that the blue colonies were generated from bacteria that inhabit fresh water (Aeromonas). None of the blood samples from victims that drowned in bathtubs generated bioluminescent and blue colonies. However, all cadavers contained bacteria that produced unstained colonies (Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Enterobacter, Escherichia, etc.). Among non-drowned victims, blood from two gave rise to blue colonies on plates containing < or =3% NaCl (Pseudomonas). Of the cadavers found near estuaries, bioluminescent and blue colonies developed from two of them on media containing 2-4% NaCl (Photobacterium, Vibrio, Listonella), but not from two others on plates containing 4% NaCl (at < or =3%; blue colonies, Aeromonas; unstained colonies, Citrobacter, Vagococcus, Proteus, Enterobacter). These results suggested that the presence of numerous bacterioplankton in immersed cadavers could support a conclusion of death by drowning.

Topics: Agar; Bacteria; Baths; Cadaver; Case-Control Studies; Culture Media; Drowning; Forensic Pathology; Fresh Water; Humans; Immersion; Luminescence; Plankton; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Seawater

To investigate the effectiveness of marine bacteria as a new marker of drowning in seawater, we determined the optimal conditions of media required to selectively detect marine bacteria and applied the technique to drowned cadavers. We incubated model blood samples (n=20 per group) mixed with seawater, river, tap or muddy water on agar plates (Todd Hewitt, TH; Marine 2216, M2216) and determined the NaCl concentration required to selectively detect marine bacteria. We also used TCBS agar plates without manipulation to isolate Vibrio spp. Among the culture media, TH agar was superior. Bioluminescent colonies were detected only in blood mixed with seawater. Blue colonies stained using the cytochrome oxidase test (COT), were detected in blood mixed with both sea and river water. However when the NaCl concentration was above 4%, COT stained colonies were detectable only in blood mixed with seawater. We subsequently used 2, 3 and 4% NaCl in TH and TCBS agar to examine blood from victims who had drowned in seawater (n=8) and in fresh water (n=7), as well as from victims who died near aquatic environments (non drowned; dry-land control, n=7). Bioluminescent colonies were detectable on 2-4% NaCl TH agar only from two victims that drowned in seawater. Bioluminescent colonies did not grow on TCBS agar. Blue colonies from all cadavers that had drowned in seawater (8/8) and in four of those that had drowned in fresh water (4/7) proliferated on TH agar containing 2% and/or 3% NaCl, but at 4% NaCl such colonies were detected only from cadavers that had drowned in seawater (8/8). Colonies from only one cadaver from seawater grew on TCBS agar. Furthermore, neither bioluminescent nor blue colonies were detected on TH agar containing 4% NaCl in samples from two cadavers found in an estuary (brackish water) who were thought to have been carried from areas of fresh water. Homologous analyses of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that the dominant colonies on TH agar containing 4% NaCl were marine bacteria (Photobacterium, Vibrio, Shewanella, Psychrobacter). Thus, proliferating bioluminescent and/or blue colonies detected in the blood of immersed cadavers using 4% NaCl TH agar, could help to establish drowning in seawater.

Topics: Agar; Bacteriological Techniques; Blood; Cadaver; Colony Count, Microbial; Drowning; Forensic Pathology; Fresh Water; Gammaproteobacteria; Humans; RNA, Bacterial; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Seawater; Sodium Chloride