What does a positive PCR result mean…or not mean?

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The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has remained a hugely important laboratory tool for decades. Subtle changes to the enzymes and drastic change to detection of a result have occurred in Read More …

Starting a riot

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Among last year’s many stories about influenza (Flu) deaths during the 1918 pandemic, we often heard about the secondary impact of bacteria; they complicate Flu virus infections, causing pneumonia and Read More …

Invincible: viruses are always out there, take EV-D68 for example

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Enterovirus species D genotype 68 (EV-D68) will be back in our media streams in 2020 as the biennial peak likely returns to cause more cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) Read More …

Familia figures

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Science communication can come in many shapes and sizes. But a picture still tells a thousand words. And in this case, there are about 6,000 words worth of mosquito communication Read More …

Way up…

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Australia has had a big summer of flu with numbers way up from what we’re used to. As my recent posts here and here flagged, it’s hard to know whether Read More …

SunFluwer…

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Just for fun, I thought I’d check in on Australia’s influenza tally again. I posted my last tally 3 days ago (Jan 18) and upon looking today (Jan 21), it’s Read More …

What’s up d̵a̵n̵g̵e̵r̵ Flu?

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Influenza is still hammering Australia with unseasonable disrespect. Is this just more testing for flu viruses, or is it a new variant virus? January in Australia is continuing 2018’s out-of-character Read More …

Flu keeps Australia under the weather

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Influenza has been unseasonably hyperactive during Australia’s hotter and wetter months at the end of 2018 and the start of 2019. In what’s shaping up to be our biggest summer Read More …

Ebola virus disease (EVD) update: to 01JAN2019

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This is a brief Ebola virus disease (EVD) update of the latest number of people infected with, vaccinated against disease due to and killed as a result of, Ebola virus Read More …

MERS-CoV infection without disease: When the coalmine has no canary

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Infection by viruses including the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) does not always result in obvious sickness. MERS-CoV infection without disease may simply reflect that a healthy human’s immune Read More …