Postmortem diagnosis of sudden unexpected death from Streptococcus suis type 2 infection: A case report

Abstract

Streptococcus suis causes meningitis, septicemia, arthritis, endocarditis and death in both pigs and humans. Sudden death is rarely documented in the forensic field and almost all cases were diagnosed pre-mortem. Here we report a 49-year-old man who died from S. suis type 2 infection. S. suis was identified as the causative pathogen using bacterial culture, standard biochemical and coagglutination tests, specific DNA amplification by polymerase chain reaction, and histopathologic examination. We discuss the postmortem investigation of a suspected S. suis infection. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.