Full Description
Leeuwenhoek's Legatees and Beijerinck's Beneficiaries: A History of Medical Virology in The Netherlands offers a tour of the history of Dutch medical virology. Beginning with the discovery of the first virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898, the authors investigate the reception and redefinition of his concept in medical circles and its implications for medical practice. The relatively slow progress of these areas in the first half of the twentieth century and their explosive growth in the wake of molecular techniques are examined. The surveillance and control of virus diseases in the field of public health is treated in depth, as are tumour virus research and the important Dutch contributions to technical developments instrumental in advancing virology worldwide. Particular attention is paid to oft forgotten virus research in the former Dutch colonies in the East and West Indies and Africa.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Illustrations
Abbreviations
Preface
Chapter 1
Origins in the dark: Virus diseases in the Netherlands before the discovery of viruses
Chapter 2
Redefining viruses: the development and reception of the virus concept in the Netherlands
Chapter 3
On the fringes: The Dutch work on viruses, 1900-1950
Chapter 4
From cell culture to the molecular revolution: the rise of medical virology and its organization
Chapter 5
Medical virology in the Netherlands after 1950. Laboratorries and institutes.
Chapter 6
Techniques and instruments: their introduction in The Netherlands and Dutch main contributions
Chapter 7
Dutch virology in the tropics: From colonial to international virology
Chapter 8
From cancer mice in the roaring twenties to oncogenes and signalling molecules in the booming nineties
Chapter 9
Virus vaccines and immunisation programmes
Chapter 10
Conclusions
List of institutes and laboratories
References
Index of Names
Index of subjects
