Monthly Archives: November 2014

Vector-Borne Diseases in the UK – Biennial Conference 2014

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Victor Brugman (The Pirbright Institute) and Stacey Leech (Public Health England) This month saw a swarm of parasitologists, entomologists, virologists and ecologists descend on the University of Liverpool for the second conference on ‘Vector-Borne diseases (VBD) in the UK’.  Recent years have seen vector-borne diseases in Europe increase in range and disseminate into new environments. New… Read more »

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Zombie ants have been manipulated by secretions from a killer fungus

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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 colleagues reported findings that begin to unravel the mechanism behind the spectacular ant-brain manipulation performed by a parasitic fungus.  The fungus turns its ant hosts into zombies that leave their… Read more »

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