Grant Jacobs • May 13, 2021 •
Many people seem to be reading that our COVID-19 vaccine won’t prevent the spread of COVID-19 from one person to the next.1 If you’re worried about this, this one is for you. We now have evidence the vaccine reduces transmission, and a rough idea of by how much.2 Science is often about pulling different pieces of evidence together, in this … Read More
Sarb Johal • Mar 12, 2020 •
It’s March 12. COVID19 is making its way around Europe. It has established footholds in the USA. Although some countries seem to have been largely successful in containing the spread of the virus, I think with the global declaration of pandemic by the WHO today has finally named the elephant in the room, the world’s worst kept secret. But … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 09, 2020 •
In a post last week, I showed you a picture of how the Covid-19 outbreak has played out in China. It was a graph of the number of cases reported each day, something we call an epidemic curve. It looked a bit like this. We can use the epidemic curve as a visual way to think about how Covid-19 … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 05, 2020 •
The Ministry of Health yesterday announced a second person in Aotearoa New Zealand has tested positive for the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. Just like our first, this person has contracted the virus overseas. This time it was during a trip to Northern Italy. The woman, in her 30s, had travelled with her partner, who has … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Feb 02, 2020 •
Now officially a Public Health Emergency of International Concern here’s my second round-up of some of the week’s coronavirus-related news. Gilead announces they are working with Chinese to test their antiviral drug remdesivir On the 31st January, pharmaceutical company Gilead announced they are working with health authorities in China to establish a randomized, controlled trial to see if … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Jan 27, 2020 •
When it comes to emerging infectious diseases and outbreaks, so much can happen in a week. In the case of the coronavirus outbreak in China, I’ve gone from not being too alarmed, to thinking “oh, crap!”. But that still doesn’t mean we should all panic. As I’m writing this on Monday the 27th of January, New Zealand’s Director-General of Health … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 04, 2016 •
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