In this post, CVR PhD students Steph, Yasmin and Weronika, briefly write about their research (Zika pathogenesis, cat retroviruses and new HepC diagnostics) and the groups that they belong to, as part of a short series of articles from new Contagious Thinking contributors (check the whole team out here). Contagious Thinking serves to communicate the… Continue reading
Is the ebolavirus mutating to become more transmissible in humans? Why was Zika virus able to move across the world so rapidly? Why are some viruses able to spread via aerosols floating in the air? While these may all appear to be very distinct questions, there is one major factor that connects them: the concept… Continue reading
As the International Meeting on Arboviruses and their Vectors, kicks off today in Glasgow with the Society for General Microbiology (#IMAV15), we’d like to present to you the fifth and final in a series of posts about arboviruses, their vertebrate hosts and their arthropod vectors. This post, written by Dr Alain Kohl ,CVR Arthropod-borne infections programme leader along with… Continue reading
“While arboviruses do not generally cause recognisable disease in their arthropod vectors they often do in vertebrates, in particular warm-blooded vertebrates like primates like us and livestock. “ As classically defined, arboviruses have both arthropod and non-arthropod hosts. Whilst insects/ticks may have legs, jaws and eyes etc., they are clearly very different to their vertebrate hosts, such as… Continue reading
The last week of June saw Europe’s first confirmed human case of West Nile fever of the 2015 season, in Sofia, Bulgaria. West Nile fever, which is caused by West Nile virus (WNV) can be a serious disease, sometimes resulting in brain inflammation, paralysis and even death. While not unprecedented in the region, Europe has seen a… Continue reading
