Living next door to Alice

Posted onJanuary 3, 2022February 7, 20262 Comments

I mean, who wants to say “living with COVID” amirite? The connotation is that it’s just a necessary thing we have to do. But really, at some point, it kind Read More …

Ireland and the vaccinated hospitalised-it ain’t what it looks like

Posted onNovember 6, 2021November 7, 20213 Comments

The media have again become fixated on the higher number of COVID-19 fully-vaccinated people in Irish hospitals and ICUs – but when you apply a little mathematics, it’s clear that Read More …

WHO to new PCR users: read the damned manual!

Posted onJanuary 23, 2021January 23, 20218 Comments

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published (14th Dec 2020, then updated 20th Jan 2021) a piece of advice for laboratories testing for SARS-CoV-2 using PCR. The advice boils down: Read More …

Putting PCR into real-time

Posted onJanuary 2, 2021January 26, 20266 Comments

Three letters have been very busy in 2020: P. C. and R. The Polymerase Chain Reaction. It’s a tiny, thermally controlled, cyclical, enzyme-driven, chemical reaction that lets scientists identify the Read More …

The mechanics of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)…a primer

Posted onDecember 28, 2020December 28, 2020

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique for copying a piece of DNA a billion-fold. As the name suggests, the process creates a chain of many pieces, in this Read More …

The Swiss cheese infographic that went viral

Posted onDecember 26, 2020August 11, 202533 Comments

A visual representation of how to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 struck a chord with many in 2020. I won’t rehash all that has already been written about the Swiss cheese Read More …

Happy Festive Season to all who read this….

Posted onDecember 24, 2020December 24, 20202 Comments

..whatever your shape, colour, gender, sex, size, beliefs, weight or disposition, I wish you a safe and happy festive season. May 2021 be a better year for those of us Read More …

The “false-positive PCR” problem is not a problem

Posted onNovember 22, 2020August 5, 202458 Comments

If you haven’t seen all the chatter that states PCRs using more than thirty-something (someone even suggested 25 to me!) cycles will suffer from false positives, and so are useless, Read More …

More testing shows more iceberg

Posted onOctober 29, 2020November 3, 20205 Comments

COVID-19 case numbers are rising quickly in many parts of the northern hemisphere. Already some totals have outstripped the peaks seen in the first wave of the pandemic. Europe and Read More …

Sigh, yes, the ‘COVID virus’ is real

Posted onOctober 6, 2020November 3, 202024 Comments

There has been talk out thar in the wildlands of Twitter from people who don’t believe the evidence that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is real. Has Read More …

Yes, PCR tests can detect “the COVID virus”

Posted onAugust 4, 2020July 1, 2025114 Comments

I was asked to write some comments for a fact check article about some of the myths going around about PCR-based testing and whether PCR tests can detect “the COVID Read More …

And another thing…on false positives

Posted onJune 29, 2020June 29, 202025 Comments

Sometimes the full story can’t fit into a media article. A lot of words can be said during an interview with a journalist but sometimes it’s just really hard to Read More …

Rhinovirus rampant or testing triumphant?

Posted onJune 27, 2020September 14, 202017 Comments

Turns out, this physical distancing thing actually works as advertised. Who would have thought that keeping the things viruses need for their survival – hosts full of cells – far Read More …

We don’t yet know the origin story for SARS-CoV-2

Posted onMay 4, 2020May 4, 202025 Comments

By Katherine E Arden, PhD & Ian M Mackay, PhD The existence of a coronavirus related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was first hinted at by a researcher Read More …

Kits and reagents and viruses

Posted onApril 12, 2020January 2, 202312 Comments

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven the use of the words “kit” and “reagent”. I completely feel for you if you still have no real idea of what is meant by 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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