Guest Author • Oct 12, 2021 •
Scott Montgomery, UCL For most of the time since the first description of multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1868, the causes of this disabling disease have remained uncertain. Genes have been identified as important, which is why having other family members with MS is associated with a greater risk of developing the disease. A recent study my colleagues and … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Feb 21, 2021 •
Sometimes it’s smaller, intensive studies that shed light on issues. Just reported results of daily sampling of COVID-19 patients indicate patients with the B.1.1.7 variant first observed in Kent, UK may have a longer infection compared to patients infected with non-B.1.1.7 variants. This is the variant seen in NZ’s most recent outbreak in Auckland. If this observation bears out in … Read More
Robert Hickson • Sep 11, 2020 •
Five things we’ve learnt 1. We know where the virus ultimately came from We know that the virus originally came from bats, and most probably a species of horseshoe bat in South East Asia. However, the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2, which allows the virus to attach to cells and infect them, is more different than those from horseshoe bat … Read More
Guest Author • Jul 15, 2020 •
Maximilian de Courten, Victoria University; Bojana Klepac Pogrmilovic, Victoria University, and Rosemary V Calder, Victoria University The World Health Organisation reported more than 230,000 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday — the world’s largest daily increase during the pandemic. The surge has forced governments in many places across the world to order new lockdowns. This includes Melbourne, which is back … Read More
Guest Author • Apr 23, 2018 •
James Turner, University of Bath and John P Campbell, University of Bath This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. It is commonly believed that some forms of exercise, such as endurance events, suppress your immune system and leave you at risk of infections, like the common cold. However, our … Read More
Guest Author • Apr 13, 2018 •
Eric Morand, Monash Health This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Thanks to Selena Gomez and Dr House, most of us have heard of lupus. But most of us don’t know what it is, and until recently, none of us were sure whether stress could be a risk … Read More
Alison Campbell • Mar 07, 2018 •
Back in mid-February, UNICEF NZ posted a piece on the importance of vaccines. Shortly thereafter, the comments thread had been overrun by anti-vaccination pro-disease activists. (I have to say, I’m really impressed with the person who does UNICEF’s social media. Talk about grace and dignity under fire!) This seems to happen every time a story about vaccine-preventable disease hits the … Read More
Jean Balchin • Mar 05, 2018 •
A recent study published in PLOS Pathogens has revealed more details of the mechanism by which the bacterium Wolbachia blocks viruses in mosquito cells. Professor Scott O’Neill, Director of the World Mosquito Program, led by Australia’s Monash University, and colleagues argue that the mechanism reduces viral replication inside cells and that rapid degradation of viral RNA is involved. What is Wolbachia? Wolbachia is a genus of gram-negative … Read More
Jean Balchin • Feb 01, 2018 •
An antibiotic virtually forgotten since its discovery 40 years ago could help develop new drugs against life-threatening infections caused by some of the world’s most dangerous superbugs. What are Superbugs? So-called “superbugs” possess antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the ability of a microbe to resist the effects of the medication used previously to treat them. These resistant microbes are difficult to treat, … Read More
John Kerr • Apr 21, 2017 •
Infectious disease experts are “deeply alarmed” by the death of a US woman due to a bacterial infection resistant to all available antibiotics. Writing this week in a Medical Journal of Australia editorial, researchers warn that the case may herald “the start of the post-antibiotic era.” Professor Cheryl Jones, President of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID), and … Read More