Detection of diatoms in drowning death cases of bihar region

Diatoms are microscopic algae which are present in all aquatic environments. The primary application of the study of diatoms in forensic investigations is in the diagnosis of drowning as the cause of death. Extraction and identification of diatoms present in the tissue samples can be used as supportive evidence in drowning and also for site specific diatoms. Whenever there is drowning the diatoms along with the water enter the blood circulation and reach the distant organs like bone marrow. In this present work few selected drowning death examination cases were mentioned .The biological sample as well as the water sample from the place from where the dead body was recovered examine in the laboratory by acid digestion method, centrifugation and presence or absence of diatoms were studied under trinocular microscope. 13 cases were selected in which 5 cases showed positive result for diatom test and the rest 8 that showed negative results are mentioned here. Finding also revealed the occurrence of various varieties of diatoms in Bihar region. Thus the study concluded that diatoms test is a valid tool to support the diagnosis of drowning which have a great forensic significance. Further research on molecular level and new methods are required for diatom testing and recognition.