Shortened lifespan: a legacy of malaria infection
Chronic low-level malaria infection has been shown to affect the Darwinian fitness of great reed warblers by shortening their life span, and that of their… Read more »
Hilary Hurd
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)
Thorny-headed worms make shrimps lose their sense to smell fish predators
Shrimps infected with thorny-headed worms lose their ability to smell the presence of predatory fish or injured shrimps and to perform anti-predator behavior.… Read more »
An exit strategy for Toxoplasma
Unicellular parasites that reside and multiply inside the cells of their hosts must be adapted to penetrate the host cell without killing it and then to escape… Read more »
Zombie ants have been manipulated by secretions from a killer fungus
The world of parasites that manipulate the behaviours of their host became even more fascinating this September. A paper published by Charissa de Bekker and… Read more »
Wolbachia as a weapon in the war against malaria
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has just celebrated the tenth anniversary of its Grand Challenges in Global Health Programme. One of the original projects… Read more »
Happy Birthday BugBitten
We are delighted to announce our first birthday. BugBitten was launched exactly a year ago today as a blog for the parasitology and vector-borne disease… Read more »
Is a skin-penetrating nematode searching for you?
Worms that burrow into your skin are the stuff that nightmares are made of, yet approximately one billion people across the globe are infected with parasitic… Read more »
Swimmer's itch: sailors, fishermen and swimmers beware
For those in the northern hemisphere, summer holidays are upon us and with them comes the pleasure of taking part in fresh water sports. But beware, minuscule… Read more »
Malaria can make you more attractive to mosquitoes
Mosquitoes that transmit malaria are attracted to individuals by the profile of their body odour. Differences in odour profile make some people more attractive… Read more »
Progress towards elimination of neglected tropical diseases in Africa
One in 6 people worldwide are exposed to infection by a large group of parasitic or bacterial infections that disable, disfigure and debilitate, killing 500,000… Read more »