Certain events can pose enormous challenges in identifying the deceased. The huge scope of mass casualty events such as wars, terrorist attacks, and environmental disasters can eclipse the capacities of forensic scientists. The exposure of a body to physical trauma, particularly in the aftermath of a disaster, can make physical identification of a body impossible.
There is no forensic method that can identify the geographical origins of an individual based upon their genetic makeup. But for unidentified victims of a mass casualty event, pinpointing a victim’s provenance brings investigators one step closer to giving an identity to an unknown. And over the past few years, a team of Japanese researchers have sought to devise such a technique by profiling the human body’s endogenous microbes to suss out our hidden zip codes.
Many viruses are acquired early in childhood and persist as long as the body they call home does. They also have discrete geographical distributions, with some strains allocated to certain regions and populations of the world. Over millennia, these viruses have evolved with man, showing distinct genetic polymorphisms and regional variations, forming lineages that can serve as geographical signposts within our cells.
Recently, viral genotyping has allowed for epidemiologists to track the movements of infectious diseases through populations. The transmission and evolution of viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C can be traced through their divergent evolution and mutations, allowing not only for public health monitoring but also for criminal investigations and personalized medical treatments.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: The Maps Within: Using Viruses in Forensic Biology
