Menu

Primary Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • About Me
Show Header Sidebar Content

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...

don't forget to signup, login, follow and Like them!

Age and COVID-19: What’s with all the young kids?

Age and COVID-19: What’s with all the young kids?

Inspired by an online conversation and the hard work of others, I set off to examine age groupings among Australians confirmed as COVID-19 cases, based on testing using a quality-laboratory Read More ...

Another way to look at flu season size

Another way to look at flu season size

Peak height, number of cases, deaths, severity – these are all terms that are used to give you an idea of how big a flu season has been. Here’s another Read More ...

The “Infection Pause”: because it’s about fewer infections, not an immune debt to repay

The “Infection Pause”: because it’s about fewer infections, not an immune debt to repay

There was a real, measurable shift in the peak season for several endemic human pathogens as well as a rebound in infections, coinfections, and disease severity among them after the Read More ...

Asymptomatic, acute and persistent COVID-19 symptom changes over the course of three infections

Asymptomatic, acute and persistent COVID-19 symptom changes over the course of three infections

Data from a UK healthcare worker cohort published in 2024 examined how signs and symptoms of COVID-19 changed after 1, 2, or 3 SARS-CoV-2 lab-confirmed infections. Those with no symptoms Read More ...

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The grey (US: gray) literature is that written material which is not part of the “traditional” publishing model – unpublished, privately published or non-commercial writings.[1,2,10] GreyLit can also include blogs and Read More …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, 2018February 18, 20261 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 Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, Influenza

The forgotten benefits of the flu vaccine…

Posted onJune 6, 2018March 3, 20262 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 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

SNAPDATE: Ebola virus numbers

Posted onMay 15, 2018

Ebola virus disease (EVD) case numbers are very mobile at this stage. But working with what we have, we can see from the graph below that there has been a Read More …

CategoriesEbola virusTagscase accumulation, Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, Ebola virus, epidemiology, EVD

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

More of VDU

  • Pinterest
  • Google
  • Facebook
  • Mastodon

Recent Posts

  • Age and COVID-19: What’s with all the young kids? April 14, 2026
  • Asymptomatic, acute and persistent COVID-19 symptom changes over the course of three infections March 5, 2026
  • How are asymptomatic COVID-19 cases tracking? March 2, 2026
  • Another way to look at flu season size February 28, 2026
  • Whooping cough in 2024 was huge in Australia, but is declining in 2025 and 2026 February 19, 2026
  • Pathology lab PCR is not research lab PCR January 27, 2026
  • Is there more flu in Australia and New Zealand than normal for Christmas? Hell Yes! December 27, 2025
  • Catch them all? There are three different influenza viruses and they can co-circulate each season August 22, 2025
  • The “Infection Pause”: because it’s about fewer infections, not an immune debt to repay July 31, 2025
  • A Flunami in July July 27, 2025
  • COVID-19 is a Pandemic: What if it was a Pandemic Emergency? And what are they anyway? July 24, 2025
  • In Australia, COVID-19 deaths did decrease between 2023 and 2024, but it’s still a major killer. July 2, 2025
  • Flu down under is a July thing June 16, 2025
  • Q fever – an old zoonosis with a better diagnosis June 9, 2025
  • What if Harvard loses? April 19, 2025

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.

Tags

anti-vaccination asymptomatic Australia avian influenza China Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC Ebola virus Ebola virus disease epidemic epidemiology EVD Flu flunami flu season genotype H1N1 H3N2 H7N9 HTLV HTLV-1c influenza influenza virus MERS MERS-CoV molecular epidemiology outbreak PCR pneumonia Queensland reporting respiratory virus rhinovirus RT-PCR SciComm science communication seasonal influenza social media SoMe summer transmission United States of America vaccine Wuhan Zaire ebolavirus

Regular reads…

  • FluTrackers-everything infectious, before it happens
  • Mike Coston’s Avian Flu Diary
  • ProMED mail
  • WHO Disease Outbreak News
  • HealthMap
  • STAT News
  • CIDRAP-timely infectious disease reporting
  • Kai Kupferschmidt
  • Martin Enserink

Recent Posts

  • Age and COVID-19: What’s with all the young kids?
  • Asymptomatic, acute and persistent COVID-19 symptom changes over the course of three infections
  • How are asymptomatic COVID-19 cases tracking?
  • Another way to look at flu season size
  • Whooping cough in 2024 was huge in Australia, but is declining in 2025 and 2026

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.

Bluesky: @mackayim.bsky.social

Threads: @mackayim.2024

Mastodon: @mackayim2022@mastodon.social

 

Copyright © 2026 Virology Down Under. All Rights Reserved.
• The following link is used to verify that I 'own' the domain
for use with Mastodon
Theme: Clean Box Pro
Scroll Up
  • Home
  • About Me

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.

Skip to content ↓