In a country notorious for violent crime, it seems that South African medico-legal laboratories make minimal application of technology in the death investigation process and little attention is given to trace evidence. ...

BACKGROUND : Children and young adults are particularly vulnerable to intentional and accidental fatal injuries. The majority of deaths in Africa in children <5 years of age are due to infectious diseases. Road traffic ...

In 2013, South Africa had the second highest rate of imprisonment in Africa. During the apartheid era, a substantial number of deaths in custody involved political detainees. However, two decades after the abolition of ...

A previously healthy 2 year old female toddler was brought to the emergency department with a history of severe hematemesis. Posterior-Anterior (PA) and lateral chest radiographs demonstrated a round radio-opaque object ...

Driving under the influence is a major threat to road safety in South Africa. Various psychoactive substances (both licit and illicit) have the potential to adversely affect driving performance and increase the probability ...

A previously healthy 31 year old African male was assisting friends with the repair of the roof of a neighboring house. That evening at a social gathering the man complained of an apparent headache and went home early ...

Reye’s syndrome is characterised by acute non-inflammatory encephalopathy and fatty degeneration of the liver. The exact aetiology of the syndrome is unknown, but there is an association with viral infections and the use ...

There is a dearth of literature on the extent of fetal or newborn abandonment or “dumping” and the medico-legal investigation procedures these cases require. This is despite the fact that these occurrences are a world-wide ...

The formation of heterotopic bone tissue outside the skeleton, known as osseous metaplasia, is a well-known phenomenon, but only a handful of cases describe this in renal allografts. We report the case of a 26-year-old ...

Sudden and unexpected death in the young is a common and worldwide problem. Sudden, unexpected death in infancy (SUDI), clinically unexpected death in an infant between one week and one year of age, affects around 1 in ...