Charlbi Dean's cause of death revealed

Charlbi Dean died of bacterial sepsis linked to surgery she had more than 10 years ago.

The Triangle of Sadness actress, full name Charlbi Dean Kriek, died from an unexpected and sudden illness in August at the age of 32. Her cause of death was not revealed at the time.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed to People that the South African actress/model died of bacterial sepsis following a complication from a surgery she had 10 years before.

The spokesperson explained that Dean's sepsis "was a complication from asplenia (the absence of a spleen)" due to "remote blunt trauma to her torso". Her death was ruled an accident.

Dean contracted sepsis after being infected with a bacteria called Capnocytophaga. According to America's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Capnocytophaga "rarely" spreads to humans, but those with autoimmune diseases and without spleens are particularly susceptible.

Shortly after her death, Dean's brother Alex Jacobs told Rolling Stone that her spleen was removed around 2009 following a "very bad car accident", during which she also suffered a broken back and ribs.

"(The spleen is) involved in fighting off infections, and that could have had something to do with what happened," Jacobs said. "Her spleen not being there just added on to the reason why she perhaps couldn't fight it off."

Dean's full autopsy report has not been released to the public.