SNAPDATE: Ebola virus numbers
The latest Ebola virus disease (EVD) figures of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Ministry of Health (MOH) are out and I’ve plotted them below. The important numbers remain Read More …
Author: Ian M Mackay, PhD (EIC)
The proportion of fatal cases (PFC)…
In July 2013 I coined an initialism for Virology Down Under (VDU) to avoid using the term Case Fatality Ratio/Rate/Risk (CFR);Â the Proportion of Fatal Cases (PFC). IMPORTED POST* I use Read More …
Ebola virus disease numbers from a double-province outbreak
In spectacularly rapid fashion, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ministry of Health (MOH) has started it’s daily, very detailed, Ebola virus disease updates to cover the case details and Read More …
A second outbreak of an ebolavirus in the DRC
The Ministry of Health (MOH), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has confirmed 4 new ebolavirus cases in a new location. Earlier there had been reports of 26 cases Read More …
Influenza vaccines do have an effect and we need to do more to understand it
Sometimes it’s hard to convey complex issues in a short-form article written for a general public audience. Other times, stories start off with an overly-simplified title they never recover from. Occasionally they lack any Read More …
Yes, there were signs that Ebola was in west Africa, perhaps as far back as 1973
If a bat carries the Ebola virus or something related in the forest, people find signs of infection in humans, publish it and read about it, but no-one remembers, does Read More …
The hardcore anti-vaxxer and you
Below is a scenario I recently encountered which was very familiar to me. Boringly so. I’ve tried to put some words around it in case recognising the flow and patterns Read More …
Parechovirus on the brain
Two recent papers have added to growing recognition that long-term neurological outcomes can follow severe parechovirus (HPeV) infection of the central nervous system (CNS), in the very young.[1,2] The first Read More …
Queensland influenza keeping it cool….
This week’s influenza (flu) data from Queensland’s Department of Health suggest that the virus is toying with Queenslanders – and much of Australia – this season. The total number of Read More …
Influenza virus haemagglutination: a sticky technique that does a lot of lifting
Haemagglutination (hemagglutination if you’re from the US) is the sticking (-agglutination) together of red blood cells (RBCs). Haem is the iron-containing, oxygen-transporting portion of haemoglobin, a molecule found in RBCs. This laboratory Read More …
Science and outreach: the good, the bad and why to get involved
Communication is at the heart of human interaction and yet science and outreach do not automatically go hand in hand. Sometimes it seems that science and medicine have forgotten how Read More …
Social media and scientists – the communication must go on
The grey (US: gray) literature is that written material which is not part of the “traditional” publishing model – unpublished, privately published or non-commercial writings.[1,2,10] GreyLit can also include blogs and Read More …
Rapid HTLV-1 associated disease onset: age and infective dermatitis in Bahia, Brazil
The Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-1) retrovirus infects an estimated 5 to 10 million people worldwide. Infection results in carriage of the virus but about 90% of carriers don’t Read More …
Reporting flu – tell the story don’t create fear…
“Flu cases jump by 256% in just five years” screams a newspaper headline from the Daily Mercury, a paywalled News Corp publication. It sure seems like scary stuff doesn’t it? Read More …
Ebola virus disease and the game-changing vaccine….
As the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) looks to be under control, how much the vaccine has helped remains an unanswered question. But Read More …