Abstract

MAIDANA, Nora I.. Diatom testing for the diagnosis of death by drowning. RevActaNova. [online]. 2013, vol.6, n.1-2, pp.70-81. ISSN 1683-0789.

Diatoms are known as valuable environmental and paleoenvironmental indicators. In recent years, several countries in Europe, Asia and North America have adopted them as a tool to assess death by drowning. In South America, this has not happened, mainly due to the low diffusion that has been given to this practice and this in turn is a direct consequence of the shortage of specialists. In this contribution data and tools are provided for use of the knowledge of the diatoms in the diagnosis of death by drowning, and a protocol for sampling cadaveric tissues for the professionals or technicians responsible for doing so is presented to avoid contaminations that may mask the analysis of results.

Keywords : Diatoms; drowning; forensic sciences; submersion.

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