Abstract

Bio weapons were always a known part of wars and are very much acknowledged form of terrorism even from Ancient times. Microbes can be used as good arms as their mass production does not require much skills, quantity, and time, along with that they can grow well in numbers from a single cell. Highly pathogenic micro-organisms and their toxins are always in concern as they were used as Microbial-terrorism, one of the much-known examples of bioterror is spores of Anthrax attacks at United State in 2001. The word ‘microbial-terrorism’, itself Indicates, the use of pathogenic microbes, to be dispersed among the group of people/ in certain areas/ or certain countries as a fatal disease, which act as an epidemic or sometimes pandemic. In view of these Forensics investigations, microbiology plays an important role such as sample handling, configuring, tackling, investigating, and validating of bio crimes. The main purpose of this review on Microbiology as forensics tool is to explain how microbiology helps in the investigation of bioterrorism, and also to suggest the systematic scientific diagnoses of bioweapon. With this knowledge, people and nations can be secured from emergent bio-threat of future. key messages: Microbial forensics is one of the most essential and significant technologies for detecting bioterrorism and bioweapons. As microbes are associated with decomposition that can impact the investigation results of autopsy, toxicological studies, and histological views. As a resutlt, microbialforensics can always be of tremendous assistance in criminal investigations.

• 1.   Schmedes SE, Budowle B. Microbial forensics. In: Encyclopedia of Microbiology. Elsevier; 2019. p. 134-45.
• 2.   Lehman DC. Forensic microbiology. Clin Microbiol Newsl. 2014;36(7):49-54.
• 3.   Schmedes SE, Sajantila A, Budowle B. Expansion of microbial forensics. J Clin Microbiol. 2016;54(8):1964-74.
• 4.   Eom YB. Microbial forensics: bioterrorism and biocrime. Biomed Sci Lett. 2018;24(2):55-63.
• 5.   Rath S, Manna S, Panda S. Microbial forensics: an overview. Indian J Forensic Med Toxicol. 2019;13(4):1880–2.
• 6.   Pala A, Arora L, Venkatesh C, Vekaria S, Shah A, Mehta A. Microbial forensics: an integral part of forensic study. Int J Oral Health Med Res. 2016;3(3):87-9.
• 7.   Mickley A. Preventing the sixth plague: microbial forensics in the war against terrorism. Honors College Theses. 2010;91:1-32.
• 8.   Budowle B, Beaudry JA, et al. Role of law enforcement response and microbial forensics in investigation of bioterrorism. Croat Med J. 2007;48(4):437-49.
• 9.   Clarke TH, Gomez A, et al. Integrating the microbiome as a resource in the forensics toolkit. Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2017;30:141-7.
• 10.   Lehman DC. Forensic microbiology. Clin Microbiol Newsl. 2014;36(7):49-54.
• 11.   Towner JS, Sealy TK, et al. High-throughput molecular detection of hemorrhagic fever virus threats with applications for outbreak settings. J Infect Dis. 2007;196(2):1-8.
• 12.   Riley A, Price EP, Seymour ML, et al. A report on the management of an anthrax incident in the Scottish borders. Emerg Infect Dis. 2007;18(8):1307-13.
• 13.   Varun Chakrakodi N, Kuruvilla TS, Furtado Z. Microbial forensics - past, present and future. Int J Biol Med Res. 2012;3(1):1546-9.
• 14.   Budowle B. Defining a new forensic discipline: microbial forensics. Profiles DNA. 2003;6(1):7-10.
• 15.   Elshafei AM. Forensic microbiology, an important tool in crime investigation. South Asian J Res Microbiol. 2020;6(2):33–8.
• 16.   Sinha M, Rao A. Microbial forensics - issues and challenges. Int J Curr Res Rev. 2017;9(8):36-40.
• 17.   Robinson JM, Pasternak Z, et al. Forensic applications of microbiomics: a review. Front Microbiol. 2021;11:1-13.
• 18.   Hochstrasser RM. Two-dimensional spectroscopy at infrared and optical frequencies. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007;104(36):14190–6.
• 19.   Beans C. Can microbes keep time for forensic investigators? Forensic scientists are building a ‘clock’ from the bacteria and other microscopic scavengers that make up the postmortem microbiome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018;115(1):3–6.
• 20.   Park J, Kim SJ, et al. Microbial forensic analysis of human-associated bacteria inhabiting hand surface. Forensic Sci Int Genet Suppl Ser. 2017;6:e510–2.
• 21.   Talmale P, Joshi N. Microbial forensics-a review. Indo-Eur J Dent Ther Res. 2019;8(1):454-6.
• 22.   Oliveira M, Amorim A. Microbial forensics: new breakthroughs and future prospects. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2018;102(24):10377-91.
• 23.   Desmond AU, et al. Microbial forensics: forensic relevance of the individual person’s microbial signature. Int J Life Sci Sci Res. 2018;4(5):2037-43.
• 24.   Oliveira M, Amorim A. Microbial forensics: new breakthroughs and future prospects. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2018;102(24):10377-91.
• 25.   Quagliarello B, Cespedes C, et al. Strains of Staphylococcus aureus obtained from drug-use networks are closely linked. Clin Infect Dis. 2002;35(6):671–7.
• 26.   Chin CS, Sorenson J, et al. The origin of the Haitian cholera outbreak strain. N Engl J Med. 2011;364(1):33–42.
• 27.   Grad YH, Lipsitch M, Feldgarden M, Arachchi HM, et al. Genomic epidemiology of the Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreaks in Europe. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012;109(8):3065-70.
• 28.   Machuca R, Jørgensen LB, Theilade P, Nielsen C. Molecular investigation of transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in a criminal case. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 2001;8(5):884–90.
• 29.   González-Candelas F, Bracho MA, Wróbel B, Moya A. Molecular evolution in court: analysis of a large hepatitis C virus outbreak from an evolving source. BMC Biol. 2013;11:1-13.
• 30.   Toppinen M, Perdomo MF, Palo J, et al. Bones hold the key to DNA virus history and epidemiology. Sci Rep. 2015;5:1-8.