• Question: what diseases have you studied other than tuberculosis

    Asked by anon-274032 to Ashleigh on 18 Dec 2020.
    • Photo: Ashleigh Cheyne

      Ashleigh Cheyne answered on 18 Dec 2020:

      Hi! I have also studied dengue, this is a tropical disease, caused by a virus, that is spread by mosquitos and causes huge amount of inflammation. The interesting thing about dengue is that once you get it once, if you get it a second time it can actually be even MORE dangerous. So, unlike most other diseases, you can’t make a vaccine easily because that might put you more at risk.

      I’ve also studied a lot of different parasites when I was doing my undergraduate, most of these affect African countries. And, I did a short study looking at the effect of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) on parasite infections. RSV is a virus that everyone gets when they’re a baby but sometimes can cause a cold.

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