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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 ...

Could Measles virus and Ebola virus be working together in the DRC?

Posted onSeptember 7, 2019September 9, 20192 Comments

Measles, resulting from measles virus (MeV) infection can cause immune suppression and “immune amnesia”. MeV infection most often affects non-immune children but can occur in any age group. Immune suppression Read More …

CategoriesEbola virus, Measles, Vaccines & vaccination

#Flunami2019: Australia’s biggest confirmed flu count on record

Posted onSeptember 1, 2019December 13, 20191 Comment

For those who love a good multiple of 1,000, or enjoy drooling over the passing of a historical threshold, yesterday was such a day for influenza (flu) counts in Australia. Read More …

CategoriesUncategorized

Testing out OpenStreetMap stuff

Posted onAugust 20, 2019August 22, 20191 Comment

To bring you and I some better maps and to try and prove that this old dog can still learn new tricks, I’ve had a go at using OpenStreetMap via Read More …

CategoriesEbola virusTagsMaps, OpenStreetMaps

The 2019 Flunami was more than just increased testing

Posted onAugust 15, 2019August 16, 2019

The Flunami (see a definition here before you decide upon your own dear reader) has been a rising tide of influenza cases. It was more than just increased testing though. Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza, Laboratory methodsTags131K, A/H3N2, Australia, flu season, flunami, H1N1, H1N1pdmo09, H3N2, phylogeny

PHEIC news

Posted onJuly 25, 2019July 25, 2019

Almost a year (51 weeks) since the first 25 cases of fever were reported by the Ministry of Health (MOH) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on July 30 Read More …

CategoriesEbola virusTagsDemocratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, PHEIC

Flu, genes, clades and H3N2

Posted onJuly 9, 2019July 20, 2019

We’ve talked earlier about clades; a term which relates to how we can put influenza (flu) viruses that sit under the broad title, “A/H3N2”, into subgroupings. Clades are a way Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsA/H3N2, alignment, clade, Flu, nucleotide sequencing, seasonal influenza, sequencing

H3N2 in Australia – Australia’s unseasonal flu season rolls on

Posted onJune 28, 2019June 29, 20191 Comment

Australia’s unseasonal flu season is still with us, albeit a little quieter than it was. Some jurisdictions have already had a peak and have returned to almost normal numbers of Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsFluA, H3N2, molecular epidemiology, Recombination, Whole genome sequencing

Which is the inFLUencing hemisphere, north, south or neither?

Posted onJune 20, 2019June 20, 20192 Comments

One of the most common comments I’ve read on Twitter from my northern hemisphere buds these past weeks is – “hey look at those bad influenza (flu) numbers in Australia…that Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsantibody, flu season, H1N1, H3N2, haemagglutinin, next generation sequencing, phylogeny, sequencing

Ebola virus disease crosses the border into Uganda

Posted onJune 12, 2019June 13, 2019

The first confirmed case of Ebola virus disease (EVD) has been reported in a child identified in Kasese, Uganda. The child, who died has a history of travelling to The Read More …

CategoriesEbola virusTagschild, EVD, Uganda

Every flu season is a soup of viruses

Posted onJune 6, 2019July 4, 20196 Comments

It may surprise some to know that influenza isn’t caused by just one “flu virus”. There are multiple flu viruses which can all cause the flu and they are around Read More …

CategoriesInfluenzaTagsFlu, flunami, influenza, summer flu, why so much flu

An influenza virus is the sum of its parts

Posted onMay 30, 2019May 1, 2025

Influenza viruses are distinct from other viruses that infect and affect the respiratory tract. Their genetic material—the stuff that acts as the blueprint to make and assemble their proteins—comes in Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza

The Australian Flunami rolls on

Posted onMay 18, 2019August 5, 2019

Flu. What the heck are you doing? Since November 2018 – traditionally a time of influenza decline as the winter season wanes to a baseline level – you’ve been causing Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza

Portrait of uncontrolled Ebola

Posted onMay 13, 2019May 15, 2019

The latest Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak has been a slow burn in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the first official report in July 2018. With the wonderful Read More …

CategoriesEbola virus

More confirmed Ebola deaths than cases?

Posted onMay 7, 2019May 7, 2019

A strange number pattern has appeared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Ministry of Health (MOH) Ebola virus disease (EVD) Reports for a couple of the affected health Read More …

CategoriesEbola virus

Influenza vaccine protection in adults: it’s better than you think

Posted onApril 19, 2019April 20, 2019

It seems like every year we’re told that the timespan for which influenza (flu) vaccination provides us immunity is a little shorter. In the next few posts, I’ll have a Read More …

CategoriesInfluenza, Vaccines & vaccination

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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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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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