Lecture 11 Exam 1

UIC BioS 101 Nyberg

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Origin of a new disease

• How does one figure out the probable source of a new viral disease?

  • Identify the earliest cases.

  • Look for common elements shared among the earliest cases.

  • Use knowledge/experience of other epidemics to focus on likely common elements.

  • Look for homologous nucleic acid sequences in the putative source(s).

Speaker Notes:

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Trying to figure out the animal ‘reservoir’ of a new human disease.