The Australian Flunami rolls on
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 …
Category: Influenza
Influenza vaccine protection in adults: it’s better than you think
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 …
SNAPDATE: Flu in Australia to 15th April 2019
A snap update of the current laboratory-confirmed numbers of influenza-infected people in Australia as we move to halfway through the autumn month April in the southern hemisphere. As can be Read More …
Elevate the Flu baseline
Summer has technically ended in Australia (sure – go look at a temperature prediction!) and Flu spent all of it being abnormally active. The 2018 Flu season peaked in September Read More …
Scared of the Dark risks
Gain-of-function research of concern (GOFROC) virus research has returned to the news.[1] With it come fears of dark risks; we will either die from influenza without this research or die Read More …
Flu vaccines can Save The Day
There is a strong relationship between heart failure and respiratory illness due to infection.[1] It makes good sense that if a safe way to prevent infection from developing into illness Read More …
Starting a riot
Among last year’s many stories about influenza (Flu) deaths during the 1918 pandemic, we often heard about the secondary impact of bacteria; they complicate Flu virus infections, causing pneumonia and Read More …
SunFluwer…
Just for fun, I thought I’d check in on Australia’s influenza tally again. I posted my last tally 3 days ago (Jan 18) and upon looking today (Jan 21), it’s Read More …
Flu keeps Australia under the weather
Influenza has been unseasonably hyperactive during Australia’s hotter and wetter months at the end of 2018 and the start of 2019. In what’s shaping up to be our biggest summer Read More …
Influenza seasons are unpredictable: deal with it
Mainstream Australian media are reporting that influenza cases in Australia have dropped by 83 per cent. Doctors have also said this is the result of science, guesswork and “a bit Read More …
Only effective vaccines can protect us from respiratory viruses because we’re us
As winter wraps up in Australia, it’s become quite clear that – barring a very unusual late burst of activity – the 2018 influenza (flu) season has passed Australia by with Read More …
Flu is giving Australia a breather….
August is the traditional Australian peak influenza (flu) month. The peak can move around a bit but it usually flu virus party time, followed in size by September. We’re two-thirds of 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 …
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 …