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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.

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Measles takes your immune memories

Measles takes your immune memories

Acute measles virus (MeV) infection can be serious You may have heard that the United States is having a multistate outbreak of MeV infections, mainly causing its worst outcomes among Read More ...

A measles infographic: virus, symptoms and white blood cells

A measles infographic: virus, symptoms and white blood cells

Here’s a measles infographic prepared using a range of sources and some feedback from the public. It aims to present measles symptoms and the levels of the virus and white Read More ...

The US 2024-2025 flu season and the vaccine

The United States has been having one of its biggest influenza (flu) years. Let’s look at how this season’s northern hemisphere flu vaccine, which most Americans most likely didn’t seek Read More ...

What if Harvard loses?

What if Harvard loses?

The prestigious Ivy League private university has taken a stand against the Trump administration’s demands. Briefly (see the link above for full details), these set out a list that aims Read More ...

Influenza virus haemagglutination: a sticky technique that does a lot of lifting

Posted onJuly 15, 2018July 15, 20186 Comments

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 …

CategoriesInfluenza

Science and outreach: the good, the bad and why to get involved

Posted onJuly 4, 2018

Communication is at the heart of human interaction and yet science and outreach do not automatically go hand in hand. Sometimes it seems that science and medicine have forgotten how Read More …

CategoriesCommunication

Social media and scientists – the communication must go on

Posted onJune 29, 2018November 14, 20181 Comment

The grey (US: gray) literature is that written material which is not part of the “traditional” publishing model – unpublished, privately published or non-commercial writings.[1,2,10] GreyLit can also include blogs and Read More …

CategoriesCommunicationTagsSciComm, social media, SoMe

Rapid HTLV-1 associated disease onset: age and infective dermatitis in Bahia, Brazil

Posted onJune 28, 2018August 5, 2018

The Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-1) retrovirus infects an estimated 5 to 10 million people worldwide. Infection results in carriage of the virus but about 90% of carriers don’t Read More …

CategoriesHTLVTagsBahia, Brazil, HAM/TSP, HTLV-1, HTLV-1–associated myelopathy, IDH, Infective dermatitis associated to HTLV-1, Tropical spastic paraparesis

Reporting flu – tell the story don’t create fear…

Posted onJune 23, 2018April 11, 20195 Comments

“Flu cases jump by 256% in just five years” screams a newspaper headline from the Daily Mercury, a paywalled News Corp publication. It sure seems like scary stuff doesn’t it? Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsalarmist, Australia, headlines, influenza, media, seasonal influe

Ebola virus disease and the game-changing vaccine….

Posted onJune 10, 2018August 6, 2018

As the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) looks to be under control, how much the vaccine has helped remains an unanswered question. But Read More …

CategoriesEbola virus

Flu vaccination and effective communication…

Posted onJune 7, 20181 Comment

A brief article about influenza (flu) vaccination appeared in the Conversation on Tuesday night. The piece, entitled “The flu vaccine is being oversold – it’s not that effective“, states that we Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza

The forgotten benefits of the flu vaccine…

Posted onJune 6, 2018June 7, 20182 Comments

A…surprising…article about influenza (flu) vaccination appeared in the Conversation today. The piece, entitled “The flu vaccine is being oversold – it’s not that effective“, tells us that we are being given Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza

Suspected cases of Ebola virus disease rise and fall while confirmed cases add up but slow down….

Posted onJune 4, 2018

Those closely watching the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak  – or any outbreak – will have noticed that some of the daily numbers go up and down very quickly. This Read More …

CategoriesEbola virus

SNAPDATE: Ebola virus disease numbers to 24MAY2018

Posted onMay 26, 2018June 10, 2018

The latest numbers from the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are in. They show a small rise in cases and in confirmed infections. This week Read More …

CategoriesEbola virus

HTLV-1 in Australia: Don’t test, don’t find, can’t understand

Posted onMay 25, 2018May 26, 2018

UPDATES: #1 The presence of HTLV-1 in Australian Aboriginal people is not new and it has not been hidden from those best suited to do something constructive to contain its Read More …

CategoriesHTLV

What’s new Influ2day…?

Posted onMay 24, 2018November 4, 2018

Annoying things I read in the Australian online news media today… Not too late to get the flu shot. No. It sure isn’t. I was…surprised to read this since the flu Read More …

CategoriesUncategorized

Mapping Ebola in the hobbyist zone…

Posted onMay 21, 2018May 22, 201818 Comments

One of the most important parts of an early understanding of the risks attached to an infectious disease outbreak is knowing where it is. Which country? What part of the Read More …

CategoriesEbola virusTagsDemocratic Republic of the Congo, Ebola virus disease, epidemiology, EVD, Maps, WHO

New Ebola virus disease case confirmed in a third DRC health zone

Posted onMay 17, 2018May 17, 2018

UPDATE #1 The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Ministry of Health (MOH) today announced that 1 of 2 suspected EVD cases in the Wangata Health Zone has tested positive for Read More …

CategoriesEbola virusTagsconfirmed, Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, Ebola virus disease, epidemiology, EVD, spread

Human T-Lymphotropic Virus type 1 (HTLV-1): a primer

Posted onMay 17, 2018June 11, 2018

What is HTLV-1? HTLV-1 is a human delta retrovirus assigned to the genus Deltaretrovirus, species Primate T-lymphotropic virus 1 [5]. It was first described in 1980.[10] Soon thereafter Japanese researchers identified endemic virus, Read More …

CategoriesHTLVTagsAustralia, HTLV, HTLV-1c, overview

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Recent Posts

  • What if Harvard loses? April 19, 2025
  • Measles takes your immune memories April 9, 2025
  • A measles infographic: virus, symptoms and white blood cells March 27, 2025
  • United States influenza: biggest season in 15 years of data February 18, 2025
  • No new A/H7N8 chook farms hit in Victoria so far February 17, 2025
  • The US 2024-2025 flu season and the vaccine February 13, 2025
  • A good news RSV vaccine story for adults February 5, 2025
  • Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in Australia – a 2022 study and the current state January 29, 2025
  • Not the “Chinese flu” label thing again…please January 6, 2025
  • SNAPDATE: MPOX cases in Australia, 14.09.2024 September 14, 2024
  • In Australia, COVID-19 deaths may have stopped decreasing September 6, 2024
  • It takes a while to gather death data September 5, 2024
  • Update on Monkeypox virus (MPXV) transmission in Australia August 6, 2024
  • More PCR cycles don’t mean magic results August 5, 2024
  • Stop Hijacking Definitions To Farm Anger And Clicks! December 29, 2023

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

  • What if Harvard loses?
  • Measles takes your immune memories
  • A measles infographic: virus, symptoms and white blood cells
  • United States influenza: biggest season in 15 years of data
  • No new A/H7N8 chook farms hit in Victoria so far

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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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.

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