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Minerva Medicolegale 2000 March;120(1): 25-36

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

The diatom test in the diagnosis of death by drowing

Terranova G., Mondini P.

In the present paper the use of diatoms in the diagnosis of cause of death by drowning is reviewed and a summary is given of the main points regarding their biology. Some methods for diatoms detection in water samples and tissues are described and useful guidelines for medicolegal investigations in cases of drowning are proposed. In conclusion, the authors suggest that monitoring of river diatom population could be a useful method of generating profiles of the river flora, in order to provide reference databases for use in cases of drowning.