Post-mortem interval and bacteriological culture yield in sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI).

It has been hypothesised that post-mortem translocation, the migration of micro-organisms from mucosal surfaces into the body after death, leads to microbial overgrowth in post-mortem samples, which is more frequently polymicrobial and which would be detected more frequently with increased post-mortem interval (PMI) from death to autopsy. This study aimed to evaluate the association between PMI and bacteriological yield in post-mortem examinations of sudden unexpected deaths in infancy (SUDI). A retrospective review of all microbiological findings from >500 SUDI autopsies (7-365 days of age) was performed as part of a larger review of >1500 paediatric autopsies over a 10-year period, 1996-2005.