Australia is having a later, but perhaps not late, influenza season.

A few quick graphs show that Australia’s flu season is active now; it’s later than it used to be, just after the pandemic’s peak, and is straying into early Spring Read More ...

Context to headlines, even when the harms are there for all to see

Reporting can produce stories without raising anxiety levels within a community. This was a social media thread I accidentally deleted, but now it’s a post about what I mean, using Read More ...

During COVID-19, we smashed flu

Seasonal influenza viruses (as shown in the image below) drive epidemics that rely on both year-round circulation in the tropics and air travel, using giant conveyor belts of virus distribution, Read More ...

Virus on a boat – a belated graphic

Remember when we all died from the pandemic that started on a cruise ship, caused by a passenger acquiring and spreading Orthohantavirus andesense? Me neither. That’s because we didn’t. And Read More ...

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 …

Parechovirus infections in babies in New South Wales, Australia

Posted onNovember 30, 2013July 1, 2025

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 …

Rhinovirus (RV) transmission by aerosol: does it happen or is transmission solely by hand-contact and self-inoculation?

Posted onNovember 29, 2013August 11, 2025

I’ll be writing a few posts over the coming weeks based on the papers I’ve found on this topic of RV transmission. How applicable these study results are to the transmission of Read More …

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 …

Happy Birthday rhinoviruses (RVs) – 60 years old today!

Posted onSeptember 12, 2013July 1, 2025

On September 12, 1953, the Common Cold Unit (CCU) in Salisbury, United Kingdom, reported isolating the agent of the common cold in laboratory cultures. The article was authored by Dr. Read More …

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 …

Rhinoviruses (HRVs) in the blood reflect more HRV in the nasopharynx and worse disease…

Posted onAugust 4, 2013July 1, 2025

Of late, we have heard quite a bit about systemic viruses of the nose, throat and lungs, commonly referred to as respiratory viruses. In this context, we’re referring to the spread Read More …

Human endemic coronaviruses, age and underlying conditions….

Posted onJuly 28, 2013July 1, 2025

Human coronaviruses (HCoVs), that is, the ones that circulate all the time, not the ones that spill over from an animal host to cause havoc and mayhem, come in four Read More …

German HCoV-EMC-local transmission

Posted onMarch 27, 2013January 25, 2026

A 2nd case of the most recently identified HCoV, HCoV-EMC, reported on ProMED, in Germany. The Robert Koch Institute notes that There is still no evidence of continuous human-to-human transmission. [VDU’s first 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.

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