Objective diagnosis of drowning: the diatom test revisited through the use of atomic force microscopy.

The immersion death diagnosis, from the perspective of forensic medicine, is very difficult in order to establish if death is due to drowning or other causes, as not all bodies found in water have drowned. Diatoms are ubiquitous unicellular organisms found in almost every water habitat. Their contribute to forensic science is primarily related to drowning death and its diagnosis, as as markers of active inhalation when found in tissues of suspected drowned subjects. The aim of the present work was to investigate the possibility of using the Atomic Force Microscopy in diatom test for the diagnosis of drowning to integrate and confirm the data provided by optical microscopy.