Introduction to Week 2

Hello. Welcome to week two. This week, we’ll be learning about how bacteria are transmitted. We will start by exploring the different ways that we can pick up bacterial infections and how we can spread these on to other people. We will discuss how molecular typing of bacteria can be used to track the transmission of different strains from person to person and continent to continent. Whole genome sequencing is a particularly powerful method of molecular typing. And we will be giving you examples where we and others have used it to help bring outbreaks to a close. You will even have the chance to test your skills as a disease detective.

We hope you enjoy the week, and we look forward to answering your questions through the comments section.