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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: Transmission

young annoyed female freelancer using laptop at home

‘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

Lockdowns had a role: they saved lives

Posted onApril 18, 2022April 18, 2022

There are threats and lists and all manner of abuse aimed at those who promoted or supported measures that saved lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. I just want to make Read More …

CategoriesCoronavirus, COVID-19, Pandemic, TransmissionTagsLockdown

Arrr a piRATe

Arrrrr on the rise (Rhinovirus, RSV and RATs)

Posted onMarch 19, 2022March 26, 2022

Anecdotally there are a lot of acute respiratory virus infections ripping through the community where I live. Particularly noticeable in schools but also workplaces. Yes, there is SARS-CoV-2 among these Read More …

CategoriesRhinovirus, SARS-CoV-2, Transmission

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

Living next door to Alice

Posted onJanuary 3, 2022July 24, 20222 Comments

I mean, who wants to say “living with COVID” amirite? The connotation is that it’s just a necessary thing we have to do. But really, at some point, it kind Read More …

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

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

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

This little MERS-CoV infected piggy had RNA, but that little piggy with indirect contact had none…

Posted onAugust 16, 2017July 17, 20221 Comment

Back in April, a Spanish/Dutch collaborative study came out looking at whether pigs deliberately infected with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) might be able to transmit that virus to Read More …

CategoriesMERS-CoV, TransmissionTagsMERS-CoV, pig, transmission

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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

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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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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Twitter: @mackayim

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