Rapid Streptococcus Pneumonia Antigen Detection on Postmortem Urine in a Death Due to Pneumococcal Meningitis

We present a death from bacterial meningitis in a 73-year-old woman in which a rapid urinary pneumococcal antigen testing was able to identify S. pneumoniae as the causative organism within 1 hour. This was confirmed by subsequent brain swab culture. The rapid urinary pneumococcal antigen test in the case prevented the need for contact tracing and chemoprophylaxis. This case highlights the potential use of this test to rapidly identify the culprit organism at postmortem examination when acute bacterial meningitis is detected.
Source: The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology - Category: Forensic Medicine Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research