Autopsy findings in botulinum toxin poisoning.

In the United States, foodborne botulism is most commonly associated with home-canned food products. Between 1950 and 2005, 405 separate outbreaks of botulism were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Approximately 8% of these outbreaks were attributed to commercially produced canned food products.

"Med-X": a medical examiner surveillance model for bioterrorism and infectious disease mortality.

We created a model surveillance system (Med-X) designed to enable medical examiners and coroners to recognize fatal infections of public health importance and deaths due to bioterrorism. All individuals who died in New Mexico and fell under medical examiner jurisdiction between November 23, 2000, and November 22, 2002, were prospectively evaluated using sets of surveillance symptoms and autopsy-based pathologic syndromes. All infectious disease deaths were evaluated to identify the specific causative agent.

Fatality from diphenhydramine monointoxication: a case report and review of the infant, pediatric, and adult literature.

As an antihistamine, diphenhydramine (DPH) is well known for its use in allergy treatment. Since its introduction in 1946, it has been marketed under various trade names, the most popular being Benadryl. Three years after its introduction, the first fatality due to DPH toxicity was reported in 1949.

Integrating the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education general competencies into forensic pathology fellowship training.

Since July 2004, forensic pathology fellowships have been required to provide training in 6 general competencies: patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice. In anticipation of this movement, beginning in 2002 the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI) of the state of New Mexico began incorporating specific training in the general competencies into the fellowship program. Our experience has shown that the additional instruction and evaluation have proven to be valuable in preparing fellows for a successful forensic pathology career, did not detract from the more traditional aspects of forensic pathology training, and in many instances improved our training and assessment procedures.