What is Genome-sequencing technology?
Genome sequencing is the process that involves deciphering the exact order of base pairs in an individual.
This “deciphering” or reading of the genome is what sequencing is all about.
Costs of sequencing differ based on the methods employed to do the reading or the accuracy stressed upon in decoding the genome.
Genomic information has been instrumental in identifying inherited disorders, characterizing the mutations that drive cancer progression, and tracking disease outbreaks.
It is beneficial for sequencing agriculturally important livestock, plants, or disease-related microbes.
How genome sequences tracked down ancient disease?
The advent of genome-sequencing technologies has allowed scientists to trace the trail of infectious diseases that ailed people in prehistoric times.
This is possible in particular due to deep-sequencing of genetic material isolated from well-preserved human remains, with the help of advanced computational analysis.
Deep-sequencing involves sequencing the genomic material multiple times to retrieve even small amounts of DNA, since the material is likely to degrade over time.
Scientists have also traced the prehistoric trail of many major human pathogens in recent years, providing an unparalleled view of the evolution and adaptation of human pathogens.
Benefits of Genome-Sequencing Technology
Its applications are increasingly enabling fast, efficient diagnosis of outbreaks, in routine clinical settings.
Quickly replacing the traditional approaches in microbiology.
It can contribute to identification and molecular characterisation, and open windows into virulence,
Antimicrobial and antibody resistance,
Clues into the evolution, adaptation,
Introduction of species in new settings.
What is the ‘Black Death’?
The ‘Black Death’, or the Great Plague, of the 14th century was one of the deadliest epidemics in human history.
This infectious disease outbreaks had a severe impact on society, economy and culture.
The ‘Black Death’ is believed to have killed more than 25 million people in Europe and possibly up to 40-50% of the population in some of the continent’s major cities.
The ‘Black Death’ was caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which infects mammals.
This bacterium’s discovery has been attributed separately to Alexandre Yersin, a Swiss-French physician, and Kitasato Shibasaburō, a Japanese physician and microbiologist during the plague outbreak in Hong Kong in 1894.
Infected through:
Humans typically get infected through fleas or
through close handling/contact with an infected human or animal.
One possible reason for the humongous proportions of the ‘Black Death’ outbreak is the human-to-human transmission of the bacteria.
After the discovery of antibiotics, in fact, its modern mortality is quite small.
India and Plague
In 1896 in Bombay.
Karnataka (1966)
Surat (1994)
Isolated outbreak (2004) in a village in Uttarakhand.
The plague vaccine was developed by Waldemar Haffkine in 1897 during the outbreaks in Bombay.
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