Infectious Thoughts

A future without antibiotics

Siouxsie Wiles • Nov 24, 2016

• antimicrobial resistance,
• Drugs,
• InfectedNZ,
• Infectious disease

Last week was World Antibiotic Awareness week, an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance. To follow-up, here at Te Pūnaha Matatini we are having a week-long conversation about the health, social, economic, and environmental impacts of infectious diseases in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this post, I want to touch on what … Read More

InfectedNZ: the state of the nation

Siouxsie Wiles • Nov 21, 2016

• antibiotic resistance,
• Antibiotic Resistance Awareness Week,
• InfectedNZ,
• Infectious disease

Today marks the start of World Antibiotic Awareness week, an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness and understanding of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. To coincide, here at Te Pūnaha Matatini we are launching a week-long conversation about the health, social, economic, and environmental impacts of infectious diseases in Aotearoa New Zealand. Where possible, in … Read More

Shopping trolleys and superbugs: an FAQ

Siouxsie Wiles • Oct 03, 2016

• adenovirus,
• Australia,
• bacteria,
• contamination,
• Daily Mail,
• diarrhoea,
• food poisoning,
• Rotavirus,
• Salmonella,
• salmonellosis,
• shopping trolley,
• virus

A story about a baby catching a life-threatening infection from a shopping trolley has made the headlines. So what was this life threatening infection, and was the trolley really to blame? This story originally appeared in the DailyMail Australia which saw Vivienne Wardrop’s Facebook post warning other parents about shopping trolley hygiene. Her 10 month old son is currently recovering from … Read More

Superbugs could kill more people than cancer by 2050

Siouxsie Wiles • May 28, 2016

• antibiotic discovery,
• antibiotics,
• Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy,
• colistin,
• e coli,
• Jim O'Neill,
• Superbugs,
• USA,
• WHO,
• World Health Organization

Antibiotic-resistant superbugs are in the news again. This time a strain of E. coli resistant to the antibiotic colistin has been spotted in the USA. So why is this newsworthy and should we be scared?  A strain of E. coli has been identified in the USA that is resistant to the antibiotic colistin. A paper describing the strain has just been published … Read More

A herbalist anti-vaxxer on Morning Report? I’d laugh if I weren’t so bloody furious.

Siouxsie Wiles • May 17, 2016

• anti-vaccination,
• Anti-Vax,
• false balance,
• Guyon Espiner,
• herbalist,
• IMAC,
• measles,
• MMR,
• Morning Report,
• naturopath,
• Nikki Turner,
• R0,
• Richard Hall,
• RNZ,
• Spinoff,
• vaccination,
• Waikato

After today’s interview with an anti-vaxxer, RNZ needs to do some serious soul-searching about its decision to give a platform to non-scientific nonsense.  As I write this my blood is boiling and I’m in a rage. There is a measles outbreak going on in the Waikato, with over 20 confirmed cases. It also looks like the virus has spread to … Read More

Monday Micro: feminine beer?!

Siouxsie Wiles • Apr 04, 2016

• Alexandra Brendlova,
• bacteria,
• beer,
• brewing,
• crowdfunding,
• Indiegogo,
• lactic acid,
• microbes,
• order of yoni,
• Vagina,
• vaginal,
• yoni

When I first saw news of this beer shared on social media, I thought it was an early April fool’s gag. But it appears not to be. Someone really is trying to crowdfund a beverage made with vaginal bacteria. If you haven’t watched the video, ‘The Order of Yoni’* are selling the idea that you can … Read More

An update on Zika infection and pregnancy

Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 16, 2016

• Brazil,
• French Polynesia,
• Lancet,
• microcephaly,
• mosquitoes,
• outbreak,
• virus,
• zika

New research which looked at the data from the 2013-2014 outbreak of Zika in French Polynesia, estimates that the risk of microcephaly is about 1 for every 100 women infected with the Zika virus during the first trimester of pregnancy. Zika is the virus spread by mosquitoes (and more rarely by sexual transmission) that … Read More

New evidence supporting a link between Zika virus infection and microcephaly

Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 05, 2016

• brain,
• CDC,
• Cell Stem Cell,
• cortex,
• Human,
• human induced pluripotent stem cells,
• iPC,
• iPSC,
• Mosquito,
• neuronal cells,
• pluripotent,
• sexual transmission,
• stem cells,
• zika

Scientists have just reported that in the lab, the Zika virus can infect and destroy neural stem cells that give rise to the brain’s cerebral cortex. Updated 6/3/2016 to include links to new papers Zika is the virus spread by mosquitoes (and more rarely by sexual transmission) that is currently causing concern across … Read More

Zika: a potential new mozzie vector?

Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 04, 2016

• Aedes,
• Brazil,
• Culex,
• Culex quinquefasciatus,
• Dr José Derraik,
• Mosquito,
• New Zealand,
• transmission,
• virus,
• zika

Brazilian scientists announce Zika could be spread by a different species of mosquito, one more common in Brazil and present in countries like New Zealand. According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Zika virus is currently known to be transmitted by Aedes species mosquitoes, namely A. aegypti and A. albopictus. Media … Read More

Zika in NZ: sexual transmission or intrepid mosquito?

Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 03, 2016

• Ministry of Health,
• Mosquito,
• sexual transmission,
• virus,
• zika

The New Zealand Ministry of Health are investigating a case of Zika in a woman who hasn’t travelled to a Zika-affected country recently. Is it a case of sexual transmission or a rogue mosquito? Update: I talked about this story this morning on RNZ’s Morning Report and TVNZ’s Breakfast on One. Also see my … Read More