Analysis of opiates in fly larvae sampled on a putrefied cadaver.

Toxicological analyses on a putrefied cadaver are sometimes difficult to achieve, because of the absence of blood and/or urine. Drugs present in a decomposing corpse may be identified through analysis of maggots feeding off it. In this study, morphine and codeine were simultaneously identified and assayed in blood and bile of a putrefied cadaver and in the fly larvae of Calliphoridae found on the corpse.