Legal Medicine 8 (2006) 240242

www.elsevier.com/locate/legalmed

Case report

Fungi can be a useful forensic tool

Masahito Hitosugi a,*, Kiyoshi Ishii b, Takashi Yaguchi c, Yuichi Chigusa d, Akira Kurosu a,
Masahito Kido a, Toshiaki Nagai a, Shogo Tokudome a
a

Department of Legal Medicine, Dokkyo Medical University, School of Medicine, 880 Kita-kobayashi, Mibu, Shimotsuga, Tochigi 321-0293, Japan
b
Department of Natural Science (Biology), Dokkyo Medical University, School of Medicine, Tochigi 321-0293, Japan
c
Chiba University Research Center for Pathogenic Fungi and Microbial Toxicoses, Chiba 260-8673, Japan
d
Department of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, Dokkyo Medical University, School of Medicine, Tochigi 321-0293, Japan
Received 16 March 2006; received in revised form 10 April 2006; accepted 18 April 2006
Available online 22 June 2006

Abstract
We present a practical case in which the fungi have contributed to the estimation of postmortem interval of the cadaver. A 71-year-old man
wearing a shirt and pants was found dead at the bottom of an open well about 6 m below the ground in his garden. Externally the face was
dotted with colonies of white fungi, which was devoid of dipteran larvae and other insects. The fungi were identified as Penicillium sp. and
Aspergillus terrous. These fungi, widely inhabit in the life circumstances, can generally colonize 37 days after attaching on the subjects. The
appearance of the body surface, the state of decomposition of various organs, police information describing that the man had last been seen
12 days before discovery and the fungal evidence indicated that the man had been dead for about 10 days. We suggest that fungi can provide
an useful means of estimating the minimum interval since death when forensic entomology is not applicable. Although, no data about growth
rates of the fungi on human cadavers have been available, further researches should be needed to clarify the successive colonization of fungi
on human cadavers.
q 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Fungi; Forensic entomology; Postmortem interval; Autopsy

1. Introduction
Although, forensic entomology is based on the analysis
of insects and other invertebrates, which colonize on the
cadavers, the fungi is also appeared on the surface of human
cadavers. Ishii et al. initially identified fungi found on a
mummified body and skeletal remains, and described that
more forensic cases are needed to develop fungi into
forensic tools [1]. Because forensic pathologists have
observed fungi mainly on decomposing human cadavers,
we believe that these organisms would become a useful
forensic tool for estimating the postmortem duration in
human cadavers that have decomposed over the long term.
However, we observed fungi on mildly decomposed human
cadaver, about 10 days after death. We present a practical

* Corresponding author. Tel.: C81 282 87 2135; fax: C81 282 86 7678.
E-mail address: hitosugi@dokkyomed.ac.jp (M. Hitosugi).

1344-6223/$ - see front matter q 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.legalmed.2006.04.005

case in which the fungi have contributed to the estimation of

postmortem interval of the cadaver.

2. Case report
A 71-year-old man wearing a shirt and pants was found
dead at the bottom of an open well about 6 m below the
ground in his garden on 3rd May. The well was located in
Tochigi Prefecture, northeastern Japan (36.78N, 139.78E).
Police information revealed that he was last seen alive on
21st April. At discovery, he was in a kneeling position and
partly immersed in water to a depth of 30 cm (Fig. 1). A
broken flashlight was found near the body, which was
devoid of dipteran larvae and other insects. Climatologic
data obtained from a government weather station located a
short distance from the well showed that the mean ambient
temperature from the time of disappearance to discovery

M. Hitosugi et al. / Legal Medicine 8 (2006) 240242

241

hemorrhages were found. Although, most of the internal

organs were mildly putrefied, no other gross abnormalities
or injuries were found. The victim appeared to have died of
hemorrhagic shock caused by pelvic fractures following an
accidental fall.
The white fungi found on the face were cultured in 1/4
PDA media (Difco, Detroit, MU, USA). Chloramphenicol
(50 mg/ml) was added to the medium to inhibit bacterial
growth. After incubation at 25 and 37 8C, the fungi were
transplanted to slant media and morphologically identified
using light microscopy as Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus
terrous. The appearance of the body surface, the state of
decomposition of various organs, police information
describing that the man had last been seen 12 days before
discovery and the fungal evidence indicated that the man
had been dead for about 10 days.

3. Discussion

Fig. 1. Schema of the scene of death.

had ranged from 8.8 to 18.7 8C with a daytime maximum of

14.827.2 8C and a daytime minimum of 2.111.1 8C.
At the bottom of the well, the air and water temperature
were constant at 1213 8C with high humidity (nearly
100%). Autopsy on the following day revealed reddishgreen marbling of the skin with the washerwoman
appearance of the hands and soles that had been immersed
in the water. The face was dotted with colonies of white
fungi (Fig. 2). An internal examination revealed massive
subcutaneous hemorrhages in the hip. Laceration of the
mesentery, pelvic fractures with massive retroperitoneal

Fig. 2. Macroscopic findings of fungi on the cadaver.

Forensic entomology uses insects and their arthropod

relatives that inhabit decomposing cadavers to help
estimate the minimal time since death [2]. Because fly
larvae are the first insects to colonize decomposing
cadavers, morphological species identification and maggot staging can estimate the time of death especially
during a relatively short postmortem interval. The present
case, the cadaver found was in the bottom of a well with
relatively low temperature and in dark place. Regarding
temperature for flies activity, Matsuo and Tamura
mentioned that Aldrichina grahami and Calliphora
nigribarbis were caught even in winter season in
Kyoto, Japan [3]. Furthermore, Greenberg described
that Lucilia sericata, C. vicina and Phormia regina
oviposited during the dark hours of the night [4].
Therefore, we cannot make denial of certain flies to
access the well bottom with low temperature and have
oviposition and/or larviposition. If the decomposition of
the body had been further advanced, flies would be
capable of attracting by the spread of odor. In general,
these conditions, low temperature and darkness, are not
ideal condition for the flies to attract and have ovi- and/
or larvi-position.
In other words, because such conditions and environments are suitable for fungal developments, fungi on the
cadaver may have potential to estimate postmortem
interval instead of fly larva. In this case, Penicillium
sp. and A. terrous were detected from the cadaver. These
fungi, widely inhabit in the life circumstances, can
generally colonize 37 days after attaching on the
subjects [5,6]. Although, no data about growing rates
of the fungi on human cadavers had been available, this
information was helpful for determining the minimum
time since death of the cadaver.
We suggest that fungi can provide a useful means of
estimating the minimum interval since death when forensic

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M. Hitosugi et al. / Legal Medicine 8 (2006) 240242

entomology is not applicable. Further researches should be

needed to clarify the successive colonization of fungi on
human cadavers.

References
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Tokudome S. Analysis of fungi detected in human cadavers. Legal Med
2006;8:188190.

[2] Anderson GS. Insect succession on carrion and its relationship to

determining time of death. In: Byrd JH, Castner JL, editors. Forensic
entomology, the utility of arthropods in legal investigations. Boca
Raton, FL: CRC Press; 2001. p. 14375.
[3] Matsuno K, Tamura T. Seasonal abundance of flies collected by trap
with position bait. Jpn J Sanit Zool 1967;18:216.
[4] Greenberg B. Nocturnal oviposition behavior of blow flies (Diptera:
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[5] Klich MA. Identification of common Aspergillus species. Utrecht:
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