What type of characteristics does body fluid provide (class/individual)?

• A. Class only
• B. Individual only
• C. Both class and individual
• D. Neither

Answer: (C)

The concept being tested is what information body fluids can yield: general (class) information about the type of fluid and, when DNA is analyzed, individual information about the donor.

From a fluid itself you can determine class characteristics—what kind of fluid it is (blood, semen, saliva, urine, etc.) and, in some cases, the tissue or species. This helps identify the nature of the evidence and its origin, narrowing down how it could have been produced. When you extract and analyze DNA from the same fluid, you can obtain a donor-specific profile, which points to a specific person and thus provides individual characteristics. This means body fluids can offer both the general type information and, with genetic testing, unique identification of the source, subject to limitations like identical twins sharing the same DNA or degraded/insufficient DNA that prevents profiling.