Being afraid of the dark may be useful
A first line of defence against infection can take the form of avoidance behaviour. In the case of a species of fly that lives on desert cacti this means moving… Read more »
Editor at BugBitten
Hilary is Professor Emeritus of Parasitology at Keele University, UK, having retired at the end of 2013. Her research interests have revolved around parasites transmitted by insects and their interactions with their vectors. She was Director of the Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology at Keele for over ten years and served as President of the British Society for Parasitology.
Latest posts by Hilary Hurd (see all)
- New report of a bacterium that blocks malaria transmission - 11th August 2023
- The prospect of a better treatment for Chagas disease and human African sleeping sickness - 21st July 2023
- Locating a host hidden inside another host - 19th May 2023
Could SARS-CoV-2 become a zoonosis?
Although the jury is still out regarding the origin of SARS-CoV-2, it is most likely to have originated in an animal reservoir. Whilst a new variant is rapidly… Read more »
Linking a disease to knowledge of its vector: River blindness and black flies
If communities are to be involved in programmes to control insect- transmitted parasitic diseases prevalent in their locality, knowledge of the link between… Read more »
Is toxoplasmosis a COVID risk factor?
The world is in the grip of a pandemic caused by acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Multiple risk factors have been associated with the… Read more »
Malaria vaccines: a new approach for an old idea
Clinical trials of malaria vaccines composed of live parasites in combination with anti-malaria drugs to kill the parasites once they have stimulated an immune… Read more »
Tapeworms are the elixir of life: for ants
The most recent of a series of studies has confirmed that larvae of a woodpecker tapeworm induce alterations in the life history traits of their ant host,… Read more »
A newly discovered interaction between malaria and brain cells
Recent research leads to a new hypothesis explaining the interaction between malaria parasites and receptors on the cells lining the brain microvasculature when… Read more »
Bad news for Guinea worms
The prospect of eliminating a parasitic disease afflicting humans took a leap forward in 2020, despite restrictions caused by a global pandemic.
Trapping sandflies using sex pheromones
Field studies, conducted in Brazil, have been investigation the distance sand flies will fly to a trap baited with the sex-aggregation pheromone that the males… Read more »
Mosquito transgenics and courtship songs
A recent study shows how disruption of the mosquito doublesex gene affects the courtship songs produced by females.