A doctor at Columbia University says they have developed new virus genome sequencing technology. It was developed by the university and a Connecticut biotechnology firm and the doctor says it is the best tool to identify infectious diseases quickly and accurately.

According to a report on high throughput DNA sequencing technology, to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, the technique successfully identified arenavirus lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) as the killer of three organ transplant patients in Australia in April 2005. The kidney and liver were from an American donor infected with the virus

Officials announced Tuesday, a pet hamster blamed for spreading a virus that killed three transplant patients in April, was traced to an Ohio-based distribution center, which supplies hamsters to pet stores across the East Coast.

State and federal investigators quarantined the distribution center Monday, and plan on testing the animals for the virus, in hopes of tracing its origin

Christina Ficara - All Headline News Staff Reporter

A Rhode Island woman is thought to have caught the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) from her hamster shortly before her unrelated death last month

Three transplant patients died in mid-April, weeks after undergoing the procedures. One a double lung recipient, the other a liver recipient, and the third a kidney transplant patient.

A fourth patient, who also received a kidney transplant, became ill but is now recovering