2010 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript

This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2010. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.

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There are many new emerging diseases in our world. However, we have been unable to locate many pathogen's natural reservoir. What positive results would occur if a virus's natural resevoir was located?      David Adams, M.D., Ph.D.: David Adams studies rare inborn errors of metabolism and other rare genetic syndromes to understand the disease process and identify potential treatments. Some conditions, like influenza, pass through an animal carrier. In some of those cases, most of the pathogen is carried by animals and only occasionally infects a human. That is the current state of the pathogen that causes the plague. If you know that an animal carrier exists, you can avoid that animal and theoretically have a lower chance of contracting the illness. Saint Ignatius College Prep in IL (12th grade student)

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