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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: Influenza

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‘Endemic’ covers a lot of biology, but we’re probably not there yet for COVID-19

Posted onJanuary 2, 2023January 2, 2023

Right up front, I’m going to repeat myself by saying that I think COVID-19 will become a disease that has endemic as well as epidemic states at some point in Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, COVID-19, Endemic, Influenza, Picornavirus, Transmission, VariantsTagsCOVID-19, disease, endemic, influenza, pandemic

An early & big flu rise in Australia

Posted onJune 7, 2022June 8, 2022

Influenza (flu) cases have been rising rapidly in Australia this year. Some see this as a result of waning immunity during our border closures. Some see this as the harbinger Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza

Thank goodness we did all the work

Posted onJanuary 29, 2022July 16, 20226 Comments

Thank goodness we didn’t hold off on opening up to see what Omicron was capable of. We had to have Christmas. And there were national cabinet agreements. Anyway, how could Read More …

CategoriesAerosols, Communication, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Editorial, Enterovirus, Influenza, Parechovirus, Rhinovirus, SARS-CoV-2, Transmission

An early look at influenza in the US highlights that the south does not predict the north

Posted onNovember 24, 2019November 24, 20191 Comment

Influenza (flu) hit Australia earlier in 2019 than it had for many years. It reached a very high peak of cases and the flu season lasted for longer than usual. Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsepidemiology, United States of America

H3N2 is 50 years old and still going strong

Posted onNovember 19, 2019November 19, 20191 Comment

The highly variable H3N2 influenza viruses which seem to cause us the most trouble, heartache and headlines have only been with us since 1968. These tiny droplets of dread emerged Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza, Vaccines & vaccinationTagsA/H3N2, drift, Immunology, Imprinting

Flu B viruses: why not H-something-N-something?

Posted onOctober 1, 2019October 1, 2019

The world of influenza (Flu) is filled with many strange things. One of these is why we label the influenza A (FluA) viruses with an “H” (short for the name Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsFluB, FluC, FLUCV, FLUDV, IFDV, influenza D virus

Flu in a ScienceWeek flash 🏃

Posted onSeptember 11, 2019September 17, 2019

I was asked to present a talk for science week 2019. I thought an explanation of the unprecedented 2019 influenza (flu) season (nicknamed flunami) would be a good talk. But Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsEiC

The 2019 Flunami was more than just increased testing

Posted onAugust 15, 2019August 16, 2019

The Flunami (see a definition here before you decide upon your own dear reader) has been a rising tide of influenza cases. It was more than just increased testing though. Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza, Laboratory methodsTags131K, A/H3N2, Australia, flu season, flunami, H1N1, H1N1pdmo09, H3N2, phylogeny

Flu, genes, clades and H3N2

Posted onJuly 9, 2019July 20, 2019

We’ve talked earlier about clades; a term which relates to how we can put influenza (flu) viruses that sit under the broad title, “A/H3N2”, into subgroupings. Clades are a way Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsA/H3N2, alignment, clade, Flu, nucleotide sequencing, seasonal influenza, sequencing

H3N2 in Australia – Australia’s unseasonal flu season rolls on

Posted onJune 28, 2019June 29, 20191 Comment

Australia’s unseasonal flu season is still with us, albeit a little quieter than it was. Some jurisdictions have already had a peak and have returned to almost normal numbers of Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsFluA, H3N2, molecular epidemiology, Recombination, Whole genome sequencing

Which is the inFLUencing hemisphere, north, south or neither?

Posted onJune 20, 2019June 20, 20192 Comments

One of the most common comments I’ve read on Twitter from my northern hemisphere buds these past weeks is – “hey look at those bad influenza (flu) numbers in Australia…that Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsantibody, flu season, H1N1, H3N2, haemagglutinin, next generation sequencing, phylogeny, sequencing

Every flu season is a soup of viruses

Posted onJune 6, 2019July 4, 20196 Comments

It may surprise some to know that influenza isn’t caused by just one “flu virus”. There are multiple flu viruses which can all cause the flu and they are around Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsFlu, flunami, influenza, summer flu, why so much flu

An influenza virus is the sum of its parts

Posted onMay 30, 2019May 31, 2019

The influenza viruses are a bit different from other viruses that infect and affect our respiratory tract. Their genetic material – the stuff that acts as the blueprint to make Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza

The Australian Flunami rolls on

Posted onMay 18, 2019August 5, 2019

Flu. What the heck are you doing? Since November 2018 – traditionally a time of influenza decline as the winter season wanes to a baseline level – you’ve been causing Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza

Influenza vaccine protection in adults: it’s better than you think

Posted onApril 19, 2019April 20, 2019

It seems like every year we’re told that the timespan for which influenza (flu) vaccination provides us immunity is a little shorter. In the next few posts, I’ll have a Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza, Vaccines & vaccination

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Recent Posts

  • ‘Endemic’ covers a lot of biology, but we’re probably not there yet for COVID-19 January 2, 2023
  • Whatever happened to communication? July 24, 2022
  • Masks matter for more than mandates July 7, 2022
  • An early & big flu rise in Australia June 7, 2022
  • BA.2.12.1 is on the rise in New York… May 2, 2022
  • Unexplained hepatitis: severe liver inflammation among young children April 25, 2022
  • Lockdowns had a role: they saved lives April 18, 2022
  • Super-cold or a silly headline? April 15, 2022
  • Arrrrr on the rise (Rhinovirus, RSV and RATs) March 19, 2022
  • Thank goodness we did all the work January 29, 2022
  • Living next door to Alice January 3, 2022
  • Ireland and the vaccinated hospitalised-it ain’t what it looks like November 6, 2021
  • 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

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Recent Posts

  • ‘Endemic’ covers a lot of biology, but we’re probably not there yet for COVID-19
  • Whatever happened to communication?
  • Masks matter for more than mandates
  • An early & big flu rise in Australia
  • BA.2.12.1 is on the rise in New York…

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 too but that can happen later.

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