[Bacterial contamination of human blood in the early period after sudden death].

The bacterial contamination of blood and its components was studied in 517 corpses during the first 2-4 hours after sudden death. Investigations were made with the use of anaerobic cultivation techniques, modern identification methods by means of test systems and gas-liquid chromatography. As revealed in this study, in 14.1% of the corpses different bacteria, belonging to the representatives of normal human microflora, were detected in the blood. More than a half of the isolates were represented by Propionibacterium (P. acnes and P. granulosum). The endogenous way of contamination from the lymph of the hepatic duct seems to be most probable.