Fatal sepsis by Klebsiella pneumoniae in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus: the importance of postmortem microbiological examination for the ex post diagnosis of infection.

The utility of postmortem microbiology has continuously been a topic of controversy. The present study describes a case of fatal sepsis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus. Postmortem culture and genotyping analyses allowed us to identify Klebsiella pneumoniae as the cause of sepsis, revealing the inadequateness of antimicrobial therapy.