Microbiology

__**Microbiology: **__
In Microbiology studies, food borne viral infections are one of the leading diseases in humans worldwide. Currently over two billion people have evidence of previous Hepatitis B virus infection and 350 million have become chronic carriers of the virus (Lee, 1997). However, successful detection of the this virus from serum and plasma by real time PCR has been developed. This method is useful for monitoring the efficacy of Hepatitis B virus therapy and screening human population in endemic areas. Other important food borne viruses quantified by this technique are Rotavirus and gastroenteritis virus (Pang et al., 2004).

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PCR is also used in Food Microbiology and these are some of the Key characters:
 * Rapid and automated – results usually available within 12 to 26 hours
 * High degree of sensitivity – able to detect one colony forming unit in a 25g sample
 * Precise and accurate results from very specific genetics-based detection
 * Flexible – assays for more than one pathogen can be run simultaneously

Kent Onesemo (u3049020)