Photo Credit- St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
# 6146
When it comes to the study of influenza, New Zealand has produced two of the world’s most famous researchers; Robert G. Webster, PhD and Richard J. Webby, PhD.
Webby, who in 2008 became director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tn. returned to Wellington, New Zealand this week to give a lecture at the University of Otago, where he received his PhD.
The subject of his talk was Emerging influenza viruses in the animal world: Should humans be worried?, which was presented on February 14th, 2012.
I am happy to report that the audio of this presentation has been posted online, so we can all listen to his lecture.
This from the Science Media Centre website.
Dr Richard Webby on following the ‘flu
Posted in Briefings on February 15th, 2012.
Dr Richard Webby, a New Zealand virus researcher based in the US, this week gave a public lecture on influenza at the University of Otago Public Health Summer School in Wellington, explaining the research behind the major flu outbreaks in recent years.
In addition to Webby’s lecture you’ll find a Q&A session, and some closing comments by Dr Marc-Alain Widdowson from the CDC’s Influenza Division.
Webby discusses the H5N1 research controversy, the emergence of H3N2v viruses from swine, and what the H5N1 virus needs to do to become a serious pandemic threat.
Entertaining and informative, this lecture is highly recommended.
