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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: Coronavirus

The “false-positive PCR” problem is not a problem

Posted onNovember 22, 2020December 30, 202052 Comments

If you haven’t seen all the chatter that states PCRs using more than thirty-something (someone even suggested 25 to me!) cycles will suffer from false positives and so is useless, Read More …

CategoriesCoronavirus, COVID-19, PCR, SARS-CoV-2

And another thing…on false positives

Posted onJune 29, 2020June 29, 202025 Comments

Sometimes the full story can’t fit into a media article. A lot of words can be said during an interview with a journalist but sometimes it’s just really hard to Read More …

CategoriesCoronavirus, COVID-19, Laboratory methods, PCR

COVID-19 is not a virus, but SARS-CoV-2 is

Posted onMarch 21, 2020March 23, 202050 Comments

For about two weeks we lived with, published using, and talked about, a disease-causing virus called the “novel coronavirus”. That name was always going to create problems like, what do Read More …

CategoriesCoronavirus, COVID-19

Why does soap work so well on SARS-CoV-2?

Posted onMarch 9, 2020March 9, 202047 Comments

This is a guest post from Prof Palli Thordarson of the Uni of New South Wales. It was previously posted in a Twitter thread and on Facebook and has been Read More …

CategoriesCoronavirus, COVID-19, TransmissionTagsCleaning, Disinfection, Soap

COVID-19 in Australia

Posted onMarch 9, 2020March 9, 202011 Comments

As the cases begin to build up – but are still pretty low with limited community spread having been detected – now is a good time to start watching where Read More …

CategoriesCoronavirus, COVID-19, Pandemic, SARS-CoV-2TagsAustralia, epidemiology

Face off

Posted onMarch 8, 2020March 29, 202015 Comments

We touch our faces often. Maybe 3 to 23 times an hour often! But if our hands haven’t just been washed and we’ve touched surfaces contaminated by viruses surviving in Read More …

CategoriesCoronavirus, COVID-19

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, 2020215 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

Not so novel: numbers: around COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2

Posted onFebruary 20, 2020March 28, 20202 Comments

A mammoth overview was just released by researchers from the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (their website is a bit slow right now so have patience).[1] It broke Read More …

CategoriesCoronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, Virus discovery

Flight of the aerosol

Posted onFebruary 9, 2020November 9, 20207 Comments

Understanding what we mean when we discuss airborne virus infection risk. An article collaboratively written by (alphabetically).. Dr. Katherine ArdenA former postdoctoral researcher with interests in the detection, culture, characterization and epidemiology of respiratory viruses.Dr Graham Read More …

CategoriesCoronavirus, Ebola virus, Transmission

Novel Wuhan coronavirus cases leap up

Posted onJanuary 20, 2020January 21, 20203 Comments

Confirmed cases of the novel Wuhan coronavirus have gone from 62 detected in Wuhan (and 3 exports that we knew of then) to over 200 after a jump of 136 Read More …

CategoriesCluster, outbreak, emergence, Coronavirus, Virus discoveryTagsChina, outbreak, Wuhan

China +2

Posted onJanuary 16, 2020January 21, 2020Leave a comment

Two countries, in addition to China, have now had visits from the novel Wuhan coronavirus, detected in travellers with respiratory symptoms. Thailand and Japan have each reported a case and Read More …

CategoriesCluster, outbreak, emergence, Coronavirus, Virus discoveryTagsChina, Japan, pneumonia, Thailand, Wuhan

Some human-to-human transmission isn't surprising in Wuhan

Posted onJanuary 16, 2020January 16, 20204 Comments

A couple of people have asked me lately if they should be worried about the novel Wuhan coronavirus. Which got me to thinking. Much of what we sciencey types chat Read More …

CategoriesCluster, outbreak, emergence, Coronavirus, Virus discoveryTagspneumonia, Wuhan

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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