ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996                  TAG: 9606210031
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-7  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press ATLANTA

NEW RULES MAY HELP IN BABY DEATH PROBES

THE GOVERNMENT has released guidelines to help officials tell the difference between SIDS and homicide.

For the first time, the government has issued investigation guidelines to help coroners and police distinguish between crib death and homicide in infants who die suddenly.

Over the years, some murders have been mistakenly classified as crib death, also known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released a standardized, six-page form for noting such things as the position of the infant's body, any suspected injuries and any evidence of drug use in the home.

The death scene investigation, plus the child's medical history and an autopsy, are necessary for a thorough investigation, said Dr. Solomon Iyasu, a CDC epidemiologist.

``If one piece is missing,'' Iyasu said, ``the pathologist can't make an accurate determination. That would help in that kind of situation, where there's child abuse or neglect suspected.''

About 6,000 infant deaths a year are attributed to SIDS, which is the sudden death of an infant that remains unexplained after a thorough investigation. It is the leading cause of death among infants ages 1 month to 1 year, accounting for about 35 percent of all deaths in that age group.

The CDC recommendations grew out of a 1993 workshop commissioned by Congress. Currently, only California, Minnesota, Missouri and New Mexico have detailed, written guidelines for investigating sudden, unexplained infant deaths.

The recommendations may reduce the likelihood of an incorrect SIDS diagnosis, the CDC said. A thorough investigation will determine a cause other than SIDS - including homicide, child abuse or natural causes such as birth defects - in about 15 percent of unexplained infant deaths, the agency said.

Last year, a Kentucky couple were charged with murder after claiming their twin infants died of SIDS. And in New York, a woman whose five children died of what was listed initially as SIDS was convicted more than 20 years later of smothering them with pillows or towels.

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