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Mapping Nepal Typhoid Using Google Earth
By KTM Metro Reporter
October 18, 2011: In the research paper published in the journal Open Biology, Scientists claim to have mapped typhoid outbreaks in the Nepalese capital accurately using latest gene sequencing technology and Google Earth, ‘The Hindu’ reports quoting PTI. An international team of researchers used Global Positioning System (GPS) signaling and the latest DNA sequencing techniques to map the spread of typhoid and trace its source in Kathmandu according to the news posted on Thehindu.com
They discovered the bugs such as Salmonella typhi and Salmonella paratyphi bacteria responsible for the typhoid outbreaks are usually spread through water or food contaminated with feces in the city.
“Until now, it has been extremely difficult to study how organisms such as the typhoid-causing bacteria evolve and spread at a local level,” said Dr. Stephen Baker, study researcher of Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam. “Without this information, our ability to understand the transmission of these diseases has been significantly hampered,” he explained. “Now, advances in technology have allowed us for the first time to create accurate geographical and genetic maps of the spread of typhoid and trace it back to its sources.”
