Publications by authors named "A A van den Hurk"
An outbreak of dengue virus type 3 on Mer Island in the Torres Strait, Australia in 2024.
Commun Dis Intell (2018)
December 2024
In early 2024, there were eight confirmed cases of locally acquired dengue on Mer Island in the Torres Strait. This dengue outbreak prompted an in-community public health response which included active case finding, health promotion and vector control. This was the first detected dengue outbreak in the Torres Strait since 2017.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArbovirus surveillance of wild-caught mosquitoes is an affordable and sensitive means of monitoring virus transmission dynamics at various spatial-temporal scales, and emergence and re-emergence during epidemic and interepidemic periods. A variety of molecular diagnostics for arbovirus screening of mosquitoes (known as xeno-monitoring) are available, but most provide limited information about virus diversity. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based screening coupled with RNA sequencing is an increasingly affordable and sensitive pipeline for integrating complete viral genome sequencing into surveillance programs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Bacteria can host foreign genetic elements like plasmids and bacteriophages, which were once thought to be separate but now show significant interaction.
- Phage-plasmids (P-Ps) have unique functions, acting as both plasmids that exist independently and phages that can infect and destroy bacteria, allowing for the spread of genetic traits such as antibiotic resistance.
- The review highlights the need for more research on the ecological roles and prevalence of P-Ps in microbial communities, despite existing studies on their characteristics and functions.
Article Synopsis
- Ross River virus (RRV) and Barmah Forest virus (BFV) are related viruses found in Australia and Papua New Guinea, showing evidence of convergent evolution in their genetic development.
- Analysis of multiple genomes revealed that specific mutations in key proteins are important for their replication and interaction with host cells, indicating similarities in how both viruses adapt to their environments.
- Although some mutations appear to have benefited their evolution, the overall selection pressures suggest that RRV and BFV have undergone purifying selection, maintaining stable functions during their replication in different hosts like mosquitoes and vertebrates.
Article Synopsis
- Surveillance of zoonotic pathogens in animals is crucial for understanding how diseases spread, but traditional methods can be expensive and technically challenging.
- By using blood-fed mosquitoes as samples, researchers can analyze a variety of vertebrate species and their exposure to pathogens, like the Ross River virus (RRV).
- In a study conducted in Brisbane, they found a high prevalence of RRV exposure in both humans (52%) and cattle (70%), demonstrating the effectiveness of this non-invasive method to monitor disease risks in wildlife populations.