Receptors that help mosquitoes smell us
Some mosquitoes have a strong preference for feeding on humans rather than other vertebrates. Our smell is one of the cues they use to detect us. A recent… 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)
- Horizontal gene transfer explains the origin of parasite molecules that manipulate host behaviour. - 10th November 2023
- Happy 10th birthday to BugBitten - 6th October 2023
- New report of a bacterium that blocks malaria transmission - 11th August 2023
Unsticking malaria
Recently published work suggests a toxin from the bacterium, Escherichia coli, could be a therapeutic tool for treatment of cerebral malaria.
Competition between different strains of malaria
A recent study in Burkina Faso showed that genetic diversity in strains of malaria resulted in different degrees of disease severity and showed evidence of… Read more »
Now we are five
A look back over the first five years of BugBitten.
A remarkable wasp parasite
A seven-year study has resulted in a new understanding of the life history of a parasitic insect that infects the paper wasp.
A new lease of life for bednets
Resistance to pyrethroid based insecticides is spreading rapidly, giving rise to concern that bednets treated with these formulation are becoming less… Read more »
Switching on the production of malaria sexual stages
A new study sheds further light on the transcription factor that acts as a master switch that turns on the production of sexual stages in the malaria life… Read more »
Trematode soldiers
Larval stages of some flukes produce a soldier caste that helps to protect the colony if another species of fluke invades their snail host. New work shows this… Read more »
Dog poo could cause abortions in cattle
Dog faeces left on fields containing cattle could expose cows to a parasitic infection that may result in early abortions or leave calves infected with the… Read more »
Barriers to trypanosome transmission by tsetse flies
Exciting new research uncovers some reasons why very few tsetse flies develop salivary gland infections.