The Underutilization of Forensic Microbiology: A Narrative Review

Abstract One of the main reasons of death in India is infection. At many centers, determining the infectious cause of death during autopsy is not regularly done. Although it is still a neglected field, postmortem microbiology has the potential to be a crucial tool for identifying the reason and circumstances of unexpected death. In addition to its use in forensic autopsies and medicolegal investigations, this tool can help with the detection of novel pathogen presentations, estimation of drug resistance, identification of bioterrorism agents, and a better understanding of infectious diseases like toxic shock syndrome, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In India, there has not been much use of microbiology in postmortem, and there is a dearth of specific guidelines or recommendations by regulatory agencies. In an effort to highlight the value of microbiology in postmortem, this narrative review focusses on suggestions made by a group of academicians from Europe in February 2016 and how they may be used in an Indian context. Based on the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards, we have briefly discussed about postmortem in coronavirus disease 2019 related deaths.