Flu keeps Australia under the weather

Posted onJanuary 11, 2019January 11, 2019

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 …

Ebola virus disease (EVD) update: to 01JAN2019

Posted onJanuary 3, 2019January 3, 2019

This is a brief Ebola virus disease (EVD) update of the latest number of people infected with, vaccinated against disease due to and killed as a result of, Ebola virus Read More …

MERS-CoV infection without disease: When the coalmine has no canary

Posted onJanuary 2, 2019January 11, 2019

Infection by viruses including the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) does not always result in obvious sickness. MERS-CoV infection without disease may simply reflect that a healthy human’s immune Read More …

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 …

It’s spooky how much the virus linked to “polio-like illness” isn’t coming from immigrants

Posted onOctober 31, 2018March 26, 202210 Comments

It’s important to read. Reading is a great way to learn about new things and other people and cultures. It can also help prevent you from opening your mouth and Read More …

Flushing virus surveillance in Ecuador….

Posted onOctober 17, 2018

Tracking viruses in a community can mean testing lots and lots of people. That can be expensive, require a lot of permissions, approvals, a big and capable laboratory capacity and Read More …

Life after PhD in the medical research hamster wheel…

Posted onOctober 15, 2018

I got to meet up with some colleagues from my past research life recently. A few different but related things struck me as interesting. These thoughts are filtered through the Read More …

Influenza seasons are unpredictable: deal with it

Posted onOctober 11, 2018October 12, 2018

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 …

How many common cold viruses in one place, in one season?

Posted onSeptember 2, 2018September 22, 20203 Comments

I was recently asked how many common cold viruses are among us at a given time? The short answer is – dozens! In the past, I’ve written a few reviews (for Read More …

During the first 4 weeks of life “common cold” viruses occur frequently and can make your little one sick….

Posted onAugust 31, 2018June 28, 2026

Not much is known about the number of, and the burden due to, virus infections that happen during the very first four weeks of life, called the “neonatal period“. IMPORTED Read More …

Only effective vaccines can protect us from respiratory viruses because we’re us

Posted onAugust 24, 2018August 25, 2018

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….

Posted onAugust 21, 2018August 25, 2018

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 …

Minding the gap: looking at numbers early in an outbreak

Posted onAugust 15, 2018May 31, 20262 Comments

The second Ebola virus disease outbreak of 2018 continues to unfold in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nearly two weeks have passed since the official announcement of the outbreak by Read More …

SNAPDATE: Ebola virus numbers

Posted onAugust 8, 2018August 25, 2018

The latest Ebola virus disease (EVD) figures of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Ministry of Health (MOH) are out and I’ve plotted them below. The important numbers remain Read More …

The proportion of fatal cases (PFC)…

Posted onAugust 6, 2018August 25, 2018

In July 2013 I coined an initialism for Virology Down Under (VDU) to avoid using the term Case Fatality Ratio/Rate/Risk (CFR); the Proportion of Fatal Cases (PFC). IMPORTED POST* I use Read More …

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.

Latest posts...

Virus on a boat – a belated graphic

Well, the day had to come. “Bird flu” flies into Australia on a feathered wing.

Looks like Flu has reset in Australia

A/H5N1 strain of avian influenza A virus (“bird flu”) confirmed in two dead birds in Australia