Penguins dying of malaria
September this year saw announcements by two zoos in the UK that their penguins had become infected with malaria and many had died. Thankfully, bird malaria is… 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)
Tapeworm eggs on fresh produce in a province of Poland
The discovery that 23% the samples of fresh fruits, vegetables and mushrooms collected in a region of Poland were contaminated with eggs of a highly pathogenic… Read more »
Ticks infest a third of UK dogs
The Big Tick Project has recently published the results of a large scale survey of tick infestation in UK dogs which found a considerable increase in… Read more »
Afraid of malaria? Get a chicken
An understanding of the blood feeding behaviour of biting insects such as mosquitoes is a major tool in the fight to control, and eventually eliminate, insect-… Read more »
Tomato plants fight a parasite
Cultivated tomato plants are able to resist attack by the hair-like stems of dodder plants, whereas wild tomato plants cannot. New research has identified how… Read more »
A new niche for sleeping sickness parasites
Before moving to the brain, the parasites that cause sleeping sickness are found in the bloodstream and fluid between the cells of several organs. A major… Read more »
UK dogs now in danger of being infected with canine babesiosis
Since 2011 it has no longer been compulsory for dogs being imported into the UK to be inspected for ticks. Within five years the first cases of the tick borne… Read more »
Toxoplasma, a common parasite that makes you angry
Media attention was caught recently by the publication of another study linking psychiatric disorders to infection with a very common single celled parasite… Read more »
A sexually transmitted parasite that destroys cells
The very common unicellular parasite Trichomonas vaginalis attaches to host cells lining the human urogenital tract and destroys them. Recent work has… Read more »
Mites in your follicles
Your ancestry determines which of 4 clades of mites live within your hair follicles.