That's the opposite of what my family member who works in health care explained to me. She explained the "but for" test and it made more sense (the person would still be alive "but for" the infection, thus the infection is the cause of death).But from what I heard that isn't the standard practice.
Eg. If a person has a pulmonary disease, gets the flu and dies then they put the pulmonary disease first as the primary cause of death.
The flu gets listed as a contributing factor. That's what iv heard doctors say anyway. If u think about it, it makes sense i think