Molecular epidemiology refers to the incorporation of molecular techniques in epidemiological studies. There are different biomarkers in cancer research used for molecular epidemiology including markers of exposure, markers of dose, susceptibility, treatment response, prognosis, altered structure/function and cancer type. Selected markers, especially those of exposure and susceptibility, are de...

Molecular epidemiology (ME), a blend of molecular biology and epidemiology, is very useful to study the spread of tubercle bacilli in mini epidemics, outbreaks, to analyse the transmission dynamics of tuberculosis (TB) and to determine the risk factors for TB transmission in a community. ME has a great role in distinguishing between exogenous reinfection and endogenous reactivation. In the labo...

Tuberculosis (TB) is a global epidemic, with one third of the world’s population infected, at least 9 million new active cases per year and about 2 million deaths per year. Without adequate chemotherapy treatment TB may be a mortal disease. In countries like Sweden the mortality was dramatically reduced about half a century ago when modern TB drugs where introduced. These gains are however seri...

In the review, our own studies of increased ionizing radiation effects on agricultural animals (nutria, rabbits, pigs, cattle) and small rodents of bio-indicator species after Chernobyl NPP accident are compared with published data of human populations’ survey after the accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plants. Similarity is noted of main targets for ionizing radiation (the car...

The M. tuberculosis pathogen is characterised by a thick, lipid-rich cell wall and membrane. It is a colonal organism, which means that it creates progeny that are very similar to each other. Today, we know that when M. tuberculosis grows and replicates, some of these progenies lose chunks of their DNA, and become slightly different. Genotyping is based on extracting the DNA from M. tuberculosi...