FNSC2200 Lecture 9: 2. Microbial Forensics
Document Summary
Microbial forensics, anthracis spores in letters sent to us in sep 2001. Important to acknowledge viruses/bacteria have diff mutation rates. e. g. hiv is highly mutable microorganism means that virus changes over time. If you were to examine hiv within a single individual at a particular time point and you were to sequence dna, you"ll find differences. Profile of bacterial species on our skin may act as a fp to identify individuals. C - potential for mass dissemination in the future. P9 how can you tell if its bioterrorist atk: uncommon agent without epidemiologic explanation, diff in disease symptoms / diff in transmission routes for a particular microbe is identified etc p10 anthrax as a biological weapon. Point: it is possible to inhale from the environment. As it is use of spores it is dangerous for the environment. Difficult to decontaminate areas exposed with anthrax spores. Scientists compared vntr genotypes/dna of anthrax sample from victim against other databases around the world.
