Add some balance to the expert commentary

Posted onMarch 1, 2020July 10, 20208 Comments

Look. If this triggers your innate biases or your need to call me out as a virtue signaler or tell me “now isn’t the time”, seriously save yourself the spittle Read More …

¿Piensas que pronto estarás en una pandemia?

Posted onFebruary 29, 2020February 29, 20203 Comments

Por Ian M Mackay, PhD y Katherine E Arden PhDKindly translated by Assistant Professor María Paz Bertoglia Arredondo El síndrome agudo respiratorio severo Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 [1]) se ha expandido Read More …

So you think you’re about to be in a pandemic?

Posted onFebruary 25, 2020July 12, 2020217 Comments

by Ian M Mackay, PhD and Katherine E Arden PhD The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 [1]) has spread to over 30 countries and regions outside mainland China. Read More …

Past Time to Tell the Public: “It Will Probably Go Pandemic, and We Should All Prepare Now”

Posted onFebruary 23, 2020February 23, 2020331 Comments

by Jody Lanard and Peter M. Sandman NOTE FROM IAN: The expert risk communication team of Lanard and Sandman has given me permission to post their very well-considered reply to Read More …

Not so novel: numbers: around COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2

Posted onFebruary 20, 2020March 28, 20202 Comments

A mammoth overview was just released by researchers from the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (their website is a bit slow right now so have patience).[1] It broke Read More …

Flight of the aerosol

Posted onFebruary 9, 2020August 5, 20257 Comments

Understanding what we mean when we discuss airborne virus infection risk. An article collaboratively written by (alphabetically).. Dr. Katherine ArdenA former postdoctoral researcher with interests in the detection, culture, characterization and epidemiology of respiratory viruses.Dr Graham Read More …

Wuhan remains the source, for now

Posted onJanuary 21, 2020January 22, 20202 Comments

Cases of the novel Wuhan coronavirus remain anchored in contact with the city of Wuhan in Hubei province. When that changes and we see human-to-human (h2h) spread occur outside of Read More …

Novel Wuhan coronavirus cases leap up

Posted onJanuary 20, 2020January 21, 20203 Comments

Confirmed cases of the novel Wuhan coronavirus have gone from 62 detected in Wuhan (and 3 exports that we knew of then) to over 200 after a jump of 136 Read More …

China +2

Posted onJanuary 16, 2020January 21, 2020

Two countries, in addition to China, have now had visits from the novel Wuhan coronavirus, detected in travellers with respiratory symptoms. Thailand and Japan have each reported a case and Read More …

Some human-to-human transmission isn't surprising in Wuhan

Posted onJanuary 16, 2020January 16, 20204 Comments

A couple of people have asked me lately if they should be worried about the novel Wuhan coronavirus. Which got me to thinking. Much of what we sciencey types chat Read More …

Viral pneumonia cluster in Wuhan, central China: 44 cases and counting

Posted onJanuary 3, 2020December 31, 20215 Comments

Welcome to 2020 in which we already have reports of our first cluster of viral-pneumonia-of-unknown-cause cases, generating worldwide media and evoking memories of the sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus Read More …

There are plenty of placebo-controlled vaccine trials

Posted onDecember 31, 2019September 22, 202011 Comments

The agglomeration of anti-vaxxers love to plague us with their pro-disease perfidy. They really enjoy wheeling out the lie that vaccines have never been tested with a placebo. Turns out, Read More …

Measles in Samoa – a couple of referenced facts

Posted onDecember 30, 2019March 4, 20253 Comments

Measles has killed 81 people in Samoa so far, mostly children. Meanwhile, like a pack of hyenas laughing maniacally off stage, the anti-vaccination cult is drooling over the harm and Read More …

Measles has peaked in Samoa…

Posted onDecember 11, 2019December 27, 20192 Comments

In one of the most satisfying graphs I’ve ever made, this plot of weekly measles cases – both suspected and confirmed (the minority) – shows that the epidemic of measles Read More …

Anti-vaxxers hate your children

Posted onNovember 27, 2019December 1, 201912 Comments

What is happening in Samoa is exactly what science and history tell us to expect when the measles virus is introduced into a population with low immunity. Sick, hospitalised, immune-damaged 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.

Latest posts...

Virus on a boat – a belated graphic

Well, the day had to come. “Bird flu” flies into Australia on a feathered wing.

Looks like Flu has reset in Australia

A/H5N1 strain of avian influenza A virus (“bird flu”) confirmed in two dead birds in Australia