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Virology Down Under

Facts, data, info, expert opinion and a reasonable, occasionally grumpy, voice on viruses: what they are, how they tick and the illnesses they may cause.

Category: Communication

The Swiss cheese infographic that went viral

Posted onDecember 26, 2020January 1, 20214 Comments

A visual representation of how to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 struck a chord with many in 2020. I won’t rehash all that has already been written about the Swiss cheese Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2

Yes, PCR tests can detect “the COVID virus”

Posted onAugust 4, 2020September 14, 2020111 Comments

I was asked to write some comments for a fact check article about some of the myths going around about PCR-based testing and whether PCR tests can detect “the COVID Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, Debunking, DNA, Laboratory methods, PCR, SARS-CoV-2TagsRT-PCR, RT-rPCR

Ya es tiempo pasado para decirle al público: ‘Probablemente será una pandemia, y todos deberíamos prepararnos ahora’

Posted onMarch 7, 2020March 7, 2020Leave a comment

Por Jody Lanard y Peter M. Sandman al Español por Daniel Romero-AlvarezPublicado originalmente en Inglés por Ian M. Mackay en su blog personalA translated version of my earlier post, performed Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, Coronavirus, COVID-19

Add some balance to the expert commentary

Posted onMarch 1, 2020July 10, 20208 Comments

Look. If this triggers your innate biases or your need to call me out as a virtue signaler or tell me “now isn’t the time”, seriously save yourself the spittle Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, Coronavirus, COVID-19

¿Piensas que pronto estarás en una pandemia?

Posted onFebruary 29, 2020February 29, 20203 Comments

Por Ian M Mackay, PhD y Katherine E Arden PhDKindly translated by Assistant Professor María Paz Bertoglia Arredondo El síndrome agudo respiratorio severo Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 [1]) se ha expandido Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Pandemic

So you think you’re about to be in a pandemic?

Posted onFebruary 25, 2020July 12, 2020213 Comments

by Ian M Mackay, PhD and Katherine E Arden PhD The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 [1]) has spread to over 30 countries and regions outside mainland China. Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, Coronavirus, Pandemic

Past Time to Tell the Public: “It Will Probably Go Pandemic, and We Should All Prepare Now”

Posted onFebruary 23, 2020February 23, 2020322 Comments

by Jody Lanard and Peter M. Sandman NOTE FROM IAN: The expert risk communication team of Lanard and Sandman has given me permission to post their very well-considered reply to Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2

Familia figures

Posted onFebruary 12, 2019February 16, 2019Leave a comment

Science communication can come in many shapes and sizes. But a picture still tells a thousand words. And in this case, there are about 6,000 words worth of mosquito communication Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, MosquitoTagsAedes aegypti, mozzie, SciComm

No, it isn’t time to cede the field to endemic Ebola virus disease in the DRC

Posted onNovember 21, 2018November 22, 20181 Comment

A few weeks ago, the Director of the CDC made comments to the mainstream media raising the spectre of endemic Ebola virus disease, or an ongoing, permanent infection in the Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, Ebola virusTagsDemocratic Republic of the Congo, Ebola virus, Ebola virus disease

Science and outreach: the good, the bad and why to get involved

Posted onJuly 4, 2018Leave a comment

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 …

CategoriesCommunication

Social media and scientists – the communication must go on

Posted onJune 29, 2018November 14, 20181 Comment

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 …

CategoriesCommunicationTagsSciComm, social media, SoMe

World’s most dangerous animals set free…digitally

Posted onMarch 1, 2018June 19, 2020Leave a comment

You may have heard that from June 2018 onwards [1], a new mosquito emoji (from Japanese e (絵, “picture”) + moji (文字, “character”) [2]) will start rolling out to all Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, MosquitoTagsbacteria, communication, disease communication, emoji, mosquito, science communication, Unicode Consortium, virus

Conference tweeting: what’s your aim here?

Posted onDecember 10, 2017July 3, 2018Leave a comment

There are many lists detailing what you need to consider when you are about to start some conference tweeting. Mine is below. But before we get to the list, ask Read More …

CategoriesCommunicationTagsConference presentation, social media, SoMe, Tweeps, Twitter

900 words on some general stuff about viruses and those other bugs…

Posted onJuly 15, 2017July 12, 2019Leave a comment

We (Dr @kat_arden and I) were invited to contribute one part to a four-part series in The Conversation this week – and after a lot of no…yes/no/yes from yours truly (I do that Read More …

CategoriesCommunicationTagsSciComm, science communication, Viruses

Climate and science denial….

Posted onJune 18, 2017July 12, 2019Leave a comment

I’m in a reading-and-watching phase at the moment – not much time for writing. Two videos I recently came across are so good that I’ve embedded them below; they are Read More …

CategoriesCommunicationTagsClimate change, SciComm, Science denial, TWADAL

Post navigation

← Older posts

Recent Posts

  • WHO to new PCR users: read the damned manual! January 23, 2021
  • Putting PCR into real-time January 2, 2021
  • The mechanics of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)…a primer December 28, 2020
  • The Swiss cheese infographic that went viral December 26, 2020
  • Happy Festive Season to all who read this…. December 24, 2020
  • The “false-positive PCR” problem is not a problem November 22, 2020
  • More testing shows more iceberg October 29, 2020
  • Sigh, yes, the ‘COVID virus’ is real October 6, 2020
  • Yes, PCR tests can detect “the COVID virus” August 4, 2020
  • And another thing…on false positives June 29, 2020
  • Rhinovirus rampant or testing triumphant? June 27, 2020
  • We don’t yet know the origin story for SARS-CoV-2 May 4, 2020
  • Kits and reagents and viruses April 12, 2020
  • COVID-19 cases slow a little in Australia March 27, 2020
  • COVID-19 is not a virus, but SARS-CoV-2 is March 21, 2020

All opinions are my own and do not represent medical advice or the views of any institution.

All graphics made by me are free-to-use. Please just cite the particular page, blog and me. A heads-up would be nice, but that can happen later.

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Regular reads…

  • FluTrackers-everything infectious, before it happens
  • Mike Coston’s Avian Flu Diary
  • Crawford Kilian’s infectious disease blog
  • Pathogen perspectives: Ebola and more
  • ProMED mail
  • WHO Disease Outbreak News
  • HealthMap
  • STAT News
  • CIDRAP-timely infectious disease reporting
  • Maia Majumder’s blog
  • Kai Kupferschmidt
  • Martin Enserink
  • EpiRamblings

 

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