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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 ...

Flu vaccines and children: coming free to most Australian States and Territories in 2018

Posted onMarch 4, 2018May 29, 2018

UPDATE #2. Back in October 2017, Queensland Health, Queensland Government (Australia) held a summit following on from our horrendous year of influenza.[1] One of the announcements associated with that summit Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsAustralia, influenza, seasonal influenza, vaccination

Flu numbers from the US…Peaky McPeakFace

Posted onMarch 3, 2018March 4, 2018

This year’s annual influenza (flu) H3N2 epidemic in the United States (US) has peaked. It’s been a big season in the US and the United Kingdom and in Canada, as it was Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsepidemic curve, epidemiology, Flu, H3N2, influenza, seasonal influenza, United States of America

World’s most dangerous animals set free…digitally

Posted onMarch 1, 2018June 19, 2020

You may have heard that from June 2018 onwards [1], a new mosquito emoji (from Japanese e (çµµ, “picture”) + moji (文字, “character”) [2]) will start rolling out to all Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, MosquitoTagsbacteria, communication, disease communication, emoji, mosquito, science communication, Unicode Consortium, virus

Flu may not be peaking even if it looks like it is right now…and here’s why

Posted onFebruary 10, 2018February 17, 20257 Comments

According to the latest flu report, the United States (US) influenza (Flu) season looks like it has peaked.[1] And perhaps it has. But the graphs are only as solid as Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, InfluenzaTagsepidemiology, influenza, lag, reporting, seasonal influenza, United States of America

Where is H7N9 in 2018?

Posted onJanuary 31, 20186 Comments

I’ve been watching avian influenza A(H7N9) virus cases in humans since they popped onto the radar in 2013 (it was among my first blogs, “H7N9 deaths” [1]). So I’m confident when Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsavian influenza, China, epidemiology, H7N9

Influenza type B viruses passes the baton to type A viruses in China…

Posted onJanuary 31, 2018May 2, 2018

What starts out as an influenza (Flu) A/H3N2 season may end up being a Flu B/Yamagata season. Or vice versa. Or with different players altogether. Flu is tricksy. We see Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsChina, exchange, influenza, seasonal influenza

Second human influenza A/H7N9 case for 2017/8 season…

Posted onJanuary 17, 2018January 18, 2018

It’s been a very slow start to the H7N9 season (=spillovers from infected poultry to susceptible humans) in China. Why it’s been so slow is unclear. The Hong Kong (HK) Centre for Read More …

CategoriesH7N9, InfluenzaTagsavian influenza, China, H7N9, influenza

Aussie Flu, UK Flu – who cares? Get vaccinated.

Posted onJanuary 15, 2018

Some thoughts from Dr Katherine Arden and myself  about where the flu viruses sweeping the UK came from. Is it the “Aussie flu”? The short answer is simply “No”. There Read More …

CategoriesUncategorizedTagsinfluenza, quadrivalent vaccine, trivalent vaccine

Influenza virus transmission: with or without symptoms, you’re dropping Flu virus

Posted onJanuary 14, 2018October 31, 202120 Comments

Influenza viruses infect our cells, but cell entry alone does not result in influenza (the disease). What happens after our cells get infected can depend on quite a few things. Read More …

CategoriesAerosols, InfluenzaTagsaerosol, airborne, droplet, droplet nuclei, Flu, influenza, influenza virus, transmission

Klassevirus…brief introduction to a Salivirus A

Posted onJanuary 4, 2018January 4, 2018

Klasseviruses are now assigned as members of the family Picornaviridae, genus Klassevirus, species Salivirus A.[4] Klassevirus-1 was first identified using deep sequencing [1] from a pool of 141 stool samples mostly Read More …

CategoriesUncategorizedTagsKlassevirus, Picornaviridae, salivirus, Salivirus A

Saffold virus…..brief introduction to a Cardiovirus B

Posted onJanuary 3, 2018

Until fairly recently, members of the family Picornaviridae, genus Cardiovirus, species Cardiovirus B [8] were thought to mainly replicate in the gut of rodents[1]. But in 2007 the genome of Saffold virus Read More …

CategoriesUncategorizedTagscardiovirus, picornavirus, Picornavridae, saffold virus, SAFV

Flu in the US – Week 51

Posted onDecember 31, 2017December 31, 20173 Comments

It’s been all about influenza type A in the United States (US) so far this annual 2017/18 Flu season. In particular, the influenza A H3N2 (A/H3N2) subtype has been dominating Read More …

CategoriesUncategorized

How the 2013 influenza A/H7N9 was thought to have arisen….

Posted onDecember 27, 2017

This is a graphical resurrection of sorts. An old image of mine I made back in 2013/14 and some text from what used to be the H7N9 page on my Read More …

CategoriesUncategorizedTagsavian influenza, bird flu, evolution, H7N9, influenza virus

Avian influenza A H7N9 virus starts its 6th wave….

Posted onDecember 27, 2017December 27, 2017

It’s that time of year again! No, not time for more leftovers, but time to turn our eyes towards China for signs of H7N9 activity.[1] While this is a ‘bird Read More …

CategoriesUncategorizedTagsavian influenza, bird flu, H7N9, influenza

Why the current influenza season is a big one…

Posted onDecember 27, 2017

We wrote a little something on this topic for the Conversation back in November. It may be of interest you in the northern hemisphere. You can read the entire piece, Read More …

CategoriesUncategorizedTagscommunity engagement, Flu, influenza, SciComm

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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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