COCKROACH - THE OMNIVOROUS SCAVENGER - POTENTIAL MISINTERPRETATION OFPOSTMORTEM INJURIES

Interpretation of postmortem injuries, including their differentiation from those produced antemortem, may be difficult even for experienced forensic pathologists. A variety of animals or insects residing in th e death environment may alter the appearance of the deceased. Dictyopt era blattaria (the cockroach) is common in the residential setting. Th ree cases of sudden and unexpected infant death are presented in which postmortem injuries inflicted by cockroaches initially raised concern of nonaccidental injury. The true nature of the lesions was not recog nized by the people at the death scene and, in one case, observation o f neck injuries raised suspicion of possible strangulation. In another , the lesions were thought to be burns of different ages. Cockroaches are omnivorous scavengers that devour keratin. They will bite human fl esh in both the living and dead with resultant injury. Recognition of cockroach bites will help in the evaluation of injuries discovered dur ing child death investigations.