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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 ...

Science needs to talk more but I know many scientists who don’t…

Posted onFebruary 10, 2017July 20, 2019

A comment I replied to on LinkedIn which I thought was worth expanding on here – a rare moment of clarity pre-coffee. Scientists don’t engage the community while wearing their scientist hat Read More …

CategoriesCommunicationTagsSciComm

Happy Festive Season to all who read this….

Posted onDecember 18, 2016July 13, 2019

..whatever your shape, colour, gender, sex, size, beliefs, weight or disposition, I wish you a happy festive season. May 2017 be a better year for those of us who wish Read More …

CategoriesEditorial

Korea contamination: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in the room..

Posted onSeptember 2, 2016May 13, 2025

Remember that MERS-CoV outbreak in South Korea in May 2015?  It was the biggest outbreak of MERS-CoV to occur outside the Arabian peninsula, killing 20% of those known to be Read More …

CategoriesUncategorized

Human parechovirus (HPeV) may be spread with the help of well kids…

Posted onFebruary 16, 2016July 17, 2022

The first human parechoviruses (HPeVs) were initially called Human echovirus 22 (HPeV-1) and Human echovirus 23 (HPeV-2).[11,12] These guys were discovered in the summer of 1956, but they weren’t officially Read More …

CategoriesParechovirus

Whether MERS-CoV spreads or stops is entirely up to the hospitals…

Posted onAugust 23, 2015March 29, 2025

The very steep rises in Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) cases seen in the graph below are not due to overwhelming numbers of new exposures to infected camels.  Those upwards inclines Read More …

CategoriesAerosols, MERS-CoV, Nosocomial

MERS simmers down in South Korea…did we learn anything this time?

Posted onJuly 13, 2015May 13, 2025

No new cases reported in 8 days and the most recent known date of illness onset now 10 days ago, are good indications that the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus Read More …

CategoriesMERS-CoV, Nosocomial, Outbreak, TransmissionTagsSouth Korea

PCR primers…a primer!

Posted onMay 5, 2015September 14, 2020

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR, described here) works mainly because of two components – a heat-stable DNA polymerase enzyme (adds new nucleotides to a chain of nucleotides) and a pair Read More …

CategoriesLaboratory methods, PCRTagsmismatch, PCR, polymerase chain reaction, primers, RT-PCR

Because sometimes laughter conveys a message better than fear…

Posted onApril 27, 2015November 22, 2019

This builds on my smaller page of MERS-CoV themed wannabe memes found here.  These were all made by me but feel free to use if they suit a purpose (a link/reference Read More …

CategoriesUncategorized

The structure of DNA… a primer

Posted onApril 1, 2015December 30, 2020

For an organism or a virus, to grow or replicate, it must make new pieces of itself and assemble those pieces into something functional. Let’s take a short walk through Read More …

CategoriesDNA, PCRTagsDNA chemistry, DNA Down Under (DDU)

Rhinoviruses (RVs)…a primer

Posted onApril 1, 2015July 17, 2022

More than 100 serologically distinct types (serotypes) and another 50 or more genotypically defined and distinct types (genotypes) of human rhinovirus (RV; Greek rhin = nose) exist within the genus Enterovirus. Read More …

CategoriesRhinovirus

Respiratory viruses: the viruses we detect in the human respiratory tract

Posted onMarch 18, 2014July 17, 2022

A list of the viruses we can and do detect in the (mostly upper) human respiratory tract. The standard testing panel/diagnostic menu comprises the influenza A and B viruses, parainfluenza Read More …

CategoriesLaboratory methods, PCR, Testing

What to watch for with human parechovirus (HPeV) infections…

Posted onDecember 29, 2013July 17, 2022

With HPeV infections generally around during summer (see specific earlier story arising from cases in babies from New South Wales), it’s well worth mirroring the advice from NSW health on parechovirus Read More …

CategoriesParechovirus

Parechovirus infections in babies in New South Wales, Australia

Posted onNovember 30, 2013July 17, 2022

The parechoviruses (HPeVs; par -echo-virus) don’t make the headlines too often. I’m not sure why but I expect it is mostly because they are (a) not frequently sought and (b) not frequently found. That Read More …

CategoriesParechovirus

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus: how tough is it?

Posted onOctober 16, 2013May 13, 2025

This publication is nearly a month old so apologies if you know of it already. For the rest of you, Doremalen, Bushmaker and Munster recently wrote in Eurosurveillance about the results of Read More …

CategoriesMERS-CoV, TransmissionTagsstability

Measles, vaccination and infectious disease communication in Queensland…

Posted onSeptember 5, 2013March 29, 2025

With measles cases prominent in the news of late, there have been a few interesting reports and interviews from Queensland’s local Acting Senior Director for Communicable Diseases, Dr Stephen Lambert. The measles Read More …

CategoriesCommunication, MeaslesTagsQueensland

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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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  • EpiRamblings

 

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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