Putrefaction
Definition
Decomposition of tissues by microorganisms, principally anaerobic bacteria from the gastrointestinal tract. Products include hydrogen sulphide, methane, ammonia, and putrescine, which cause bloating, skin slippage, and discolouration. The dominant decomposition pathway under warm, moist conditions.
- Driven by
- Anaerobic bacteria including Clostridium welchii and gut flora
- Main gases produced
- Hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide
- Effect on body
- Causes bloating, gas buildup, body wall rupture, and decomposition odor
Common questions
What's the difference between putrefaction and autolysis?+
Putrefaction is microbial decomposition driven by bacteria, while autolysis is breakdown from the body's own enzymes. Putrefaction produces gases like hydrogen sulfide, methane, and ammonia that make bodies swell and smell. Autolysis is a chemical self-digestion that happens alongside putrefaction.
Why does a decomposing body swell and stink?+
Bacteria in the gut break down soft tissue and release gases, hydrogen sulfide, methane, and ammonia. These gases build up inside the body, causing bloating and rupture of the body wall. The sulfurous odors attract insects that continue the decomposition process.
Does putrefaction still happen if a body is buried?+
Yes. Putrefaction slows in buried contexts because there's less oxygen available, but anaerobic bacteria keep working and continue breaking down soft tissue, producing the same gases that cause bloating.
Related terms
- Autolysis
- Self-digestion of cells after death caused by the release of lysosomal enzymes. No microbial involvement is required. Autolysis begins within minutes of...
- Adipocere
- A waxy, soap-like substance formed by saponification of body fat under anaerobic, wet, cool-to-moderate conditions. Replaces unsaturated fatty acids with saturated palmitic...
- Mummification
- Preservation of the body by desiccation rather than liquefaction, occurring when surface evaporation rate exceeds the rate of putrefaction gas production. Common...
- Post-Mortem Interval (PMI)
- The time elapsed between death and discovery or examination of remains. PMI estimation draws on multiple disciplines: soft tissue decomposition stage, insect...
- Accumulated Degree Days (ADD)
- The sum of daily mean temperatures above a threshold (usually 0 °C) over a period of interest. Used as a measure of...
- Accumulated Degree Hours/days (ADH/ADD)
- A temperature-corrected measure of thermal energy available for insect development, calculated by summing the degrees above a species-specific base temperature over time....
- Algor Mortis
- Postmortem cooling of the body toward ambient temperature, approximately 1-1.5 degrees Celsius per hour under average conditions. Used alongside other postmortem changes...
- Autopsy
- Systematic external and internal examination of a dead body to find cause, manner and time of death. Ordered under BNSS 2023 Section...
- Behrensmeyer Weathering Stages
- A six-stage (0-5) macroscopic scale for characterising the degree of environmental weathering on bone, published by Anna Kay Behrensmeyer in Paleobiology (1978)....
- Cadaver Decomposition Island (CDI)
- The localised area of soil and vegetation altered by the decomposition fluids and gases released from a body. A CDI has a...
- Cadaveric Decomposition Island (CDI)
- The patch of soil beneath and around a decomposing body, enriched in nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic compounds from decomposition fluids. CDI chemistry...
- Cadaveric Spasm
- Instantaneous rigor without a flaccid phase, locking the muscle group active at death (clutched weapon, grass).
Explained in these topics
- Burial Taphonomy: Processes and StagesThe bacterially driven breakdown of soft tissue, producing gases (hydrogen sulphide, methane, ammonia) that cause bloating and eventually rupture the body wall...
- Decomposition Stages and the Cadaver as a HabitatThe breakdown of soft tissue by anaerobic bacteria, producing gases including hydrogen sulfide, methane, and ammonia. Putrefaction drives the bloat stage and i...
- Decomposition Stages and the Megyesi Total Body ScoreBacterial decomposition of soft tissue producing gases (hydrogen sulphide, methane, ammonia) and volatile organic compounds responsible for the odour of decomp...
- Post-Mortem Examination, Post-Mortem Changes and Time Since DeathBacterial breakdown mainly by Clostridium welchii and gut flora, producing H2S, methane and CO2.
- Soft Tissue Preservation and DecompositionDecomposition of tissues by microorganisms, principally anaerobic bacteria from the gastrointestinal tract. Products include hydrogen sulphide, methane, ammoni...