Mutants

Scientists track down a killer superbug by sequencing its genome:

“In late August, as word of the outbreak circulated among the NIH staff, Snitkin and his boss, Julie Segre, approached the Clinical Center with an unusual offer. In their jobs at the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute, the two scientists had previously sequenced genomes from a bacterial outbreak long after it had died out. But today, sequencing technology had become so fast and so cheap. Why not analyze the bacteria in the middle of an outbreak? By tracking the bug’s transmission route through the hospital, they might be able to isolate it and stop its lethal spread. They put this question to the center’s top brass, who immediately accepted their offer. ‘It was a no-brainer,’ says Tara Palmore, the center’s deputy epidemiologist, who headed up its fight against KPC.”

Source: Wired
Published: Jan 17, 2013
Length: 21 minutes (5,433 words)
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