Invasive toads reduce the parasite burden of native frogs in Australia, but is it doing them any good?
A recent study has shown that the invasive cane toad, Rhinella marina, may reduce lungworm burdens in native Australian frogs.
Alan Harrison
Alan Harrison completed his doctoral studies at Queen’s University Belfast where he studied the ecology and epidemiology of vector-borne pathogen in multi-host (deer and tick) cycles. He subsequently took up a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pretoria where he studied a diverse range of topics related to vector-borne pathogen transmission including tick-host interactions, theoretical modelling of tick-borne disease transmission and the identification of novel reservoirs and hosts of vector-borne pathogens. He is currently based at the University of Aberdeen where he is involved in a Wellcome Trust funded collaboration with the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar investigating the biotic and abiotic determinants of zoonotic disease risk in Madagascar.
Latest posts by Alan Harrison (see all)
- Invasive toads reduce the parasite burden of native frogs in Australia, but is it doing them any good? - 25th September 2015
- 500 year old toilet in Jerusalem reveals clues about long-distance trade and travel in the medieval period - 15th June 2015
- Parasites and diseases in the trenches of World War I - 10th November 2014
500 year old toilet in Jerusalem reveals clues about long-distance trade and travel in the medieval period
A recent study led by Dr Piers Mitchell from Cambridge University’s Division of Biological Anthropology suggests that parasites found in stool samples from a… Read more »
Parasites and diseases in the trenches of World War I
Tuesday 11th November marks Armistice day (also known as Remembrance Day or Poppy Day in the UK), the day in 1918 when on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the… Read more »
Evidence of an ancient Schistosome infection from skeletal remains in Syria
Researchers have discovered what they think is the oldest known case of schistosomiasis, dating between 6000 and 6500 years old, having found an egg from the… Read more »
Mammalian meat allergy caused by tick bites
People are suffering severe allergic reactions (including anaphylaxis) to meat products as tick bites cause the human body to mount an immune response against… Read more »
Chile uses feathered friends to combat Hantavirus
The Chilean forest service, CONAF, are hoping to expand populations of Chilean white owls and Magellanic horned owls in the Valparaíso region in an effort to… Read more »
World Health Day 2014: Small creatures, big threat
World Health Day occurs annually on the 7th April to mark the founding of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1948. The WHO aims to utilise World Health Day… Read more »
Discussion on the role of biodiversity in zoonotic disease risk heats up
With the increase in global biodiversity loss comes the search for an understanding of how biodiversity loss will affect people or how conserving biodiversity… Read more »
New vector-borne pathogens in the US
Infectious diseases are considered to be “emerging” or “re-emerging” if they have increased in incidence in the previous two decades or if they threaten… Read more »