Viral phylogeny in court: The unusual case of the Valencian anesthetist

Abstract

A large and complex outbreak of hepatitis C virus in Valencia, Spain that began 25 years ago led to the prosecution and conviction of an anesthetist who was accused of infecting hundreds of his patients. Evolutionary analyses of viral gene sequences were presented as evidence in the trial, and these are now described in detail by González-Candelas and colleagues in a paper published in BMC Biology. Their study illustrates the challenges and opportunities that arise from the use of phylogenetic inference in criminal trials concerning virus transmission.See research article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/11/76. © 2013 Vandamme and Pybus; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.