Genetic Detectives: How Scientists Use DNA To Track Disease Outbreaks

Health and Medicine





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An epidemiologist examines the sample taken from a patient thought to be infected with influenza A (H1N1) virus. Maria Armas/Reuters

They’re the top questions on everyone’s mind when a new disease outbreak happens: where did the virus come from? When did this happen? How long has it been spreading in a particular country or group of people?

These questions have been the foundation of epidemiology, the study of the occurrence and spread of disease, since the days when outbreaks were tracked by hundreds and hundreds of questionnaires linking people with similar symptoms.