Alison Campbell • Feb 01, 2019 •
A couple of days ago Newsroom published an article about smallpox, by Farah Hancock. It’s a very good story that covers the nature of smallpox and the history of efforts to develop a vaccine for this particularly nasty disease. And it’s the first of a science-based series about vaccines. Smallpox is a disease that’s extinct in the wild, with … Read More
Alison Campbell • Jul 14, 2017 •
Like another, far more significant, blogger, I seem to be spending a bit of time on the subject of vaccines & vaccinations. But – given the mumps outbreaks in Auckland & Waikato, and the measles epidemic in Romania & other countries in Europe – it’s a subject worth more than one look. As a result of a discussion on … Read More
Guest Author • Jul 14, 2017 •
Maxine Whittaker, James Cook University This is the last article in a four-part package looking at infectious diseases and how they’ve influenced our culture and evolution. Read the other articles here. Despite being so small they can’t be seen with the naked eye, pathogens that cause human disease have greatly affected the way humans live for centuries. Read More
Guest Author • Jun 13, 2017 •
By Rebecca Chisholm, University of Melbourne and Nicholas Geard, University of Melbourne Australia was declared measles-free in 2014. However, the recent importation of a case of measles into Australia from Indonesia illustrates the threat this disease still poses to Australians. It also underscores the importance of maintaining high vaccination rates against rare diseases to … Read More
Alison Campbell • Jan 17, 2016 •
I had another head-desk moment today, on reading a bit more of Judy Wilyman’s PhD thesis (a bit at a time is quite enough). Smallpox vaccines. Flickr CC, Pan American Health Organization-PAHO / World Health Organization-WHO. The document has quite a bit to say about smallpox. I’ve already noted the ill-considered statement that the vaccine has never … Read More