Main 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