Page 107 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

The history of veterinary virology
in South Africa commences, like
many of the other veterinary
disciplines in South Africa, with
Sir Arnold Theiler. Prior to 1900 several
veterinarians published on viral diseases
such as African horsesickness (AHS), blue-
tongue (BT) and others. However, it could
be argued that the birth of veterinary
virology in South Africa was heralded by
Theiler’s demonstration in 1901 that AHS
is caused by a filterable agent, thus by a
virus, according to the definition that pre-
vailed at the time. The initial virological
research at Onderstepoort was conducted
by Theiler himself and later (ca 1920) also
by P.J. du Toit. It is not clear when the
Section of Virology was established. Since
about 1936 reference was made of the
Section of Protozoology and Virus Diseases.
seem, in 1951 the name changed to Section of Virus Diseases and Protozoology. By the mid-1950s the two disciplines were split and the one became the Section of
Virology.
Virology B.J. ERASMUS
Strange as it may
ONDERSTEPOORT 100
and Weiss) were intimately involved in re- search on viruses and virus diseases (see also Part 1).
In 1937 the veterinary staff of the Section of Protozoology and Virus Diseases comprised: P.J. du Toit, R.A. Alexander, W.O. Neitz, J.H. Mason and Hans Theiler (elder son of Sir Arnold). In 1938 the physicist A.G. (Alfred) Polson joined them and in 1939 Hans Theiler was transferred to the Poultry Section. Later appointments were T.F. (Tom) Adelaar (1944 until 1947 when he was transferred to Pharmacology and Toxicology), D.A. (David) Haig (1944 until 1958 when he left for England) and Weiss (1949 until 1967 when he was promoted to Deputy Director of the Institute).
Appointments during the 1950s in- cluded: V.R. (Victor) Kaschula (1950-1954 when he left for the USA and eventually Lebanon) who worked mainly on Rift Valley fever (RVF) and Newcastle disease; B.M. (Bushy) McIntosh (1952-1956 when he left for Pirbright, UK but soon after joined the Poliomyelitis Research Foundation in Johannesburg) who did pioneering work on the serotyping of AHS virus isolates and P.G. (Peter) Howell (1954 until 1973 when he was appointed Professor and head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty). Howell initially worked on rabies but was soon thereafter made responsible for AHS research (until the end of 1960) as well as BT research (until 1973). C.J. (John) Maré (1958 to 1966 when he took up a post in Ames, Iowa where he had studied for his PhD) concentrated on viral agents associated with bovine infertility and made the first isolations of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) and infectious pustular
vulvovaginitis (IPV) viruses in South Africa. Researchers appointed during the 1960s included: Baltus Erasmus (1961 until 1985 when he became Head of the Vaccine Factory, later Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP), but continued research in virology until his retirement in 1995); N.C. (Neville) Owen (1962 until 1964 when he took up a post in Physiology at the University of Natal), who had a knack for new techniques and in collaboration with E. (Eberhard) Munz (a visiting scientist from Munich, Germany) took the first electron micrographs of BT virus; L. (Louis) Coetzee (1962
Until the end of R.A. (Ray) Alexander’s
term, the respective Directors of the Institute
(Theiler, du Toit, G. van de W. de Kock, J.I.
(John) Quin and Alexander) appear to have
acted as heads of the relevant laboratory.
It was only after Alexander’s retirement in
1961 that K.E. (Gene) Weiss was appointed
as head of the Virology Section. Following
his promotion to Deputy Director of the
Institute in 1967 B. J. (Baltus) Erasmus
became head, a post which he held until
1985. The subsequent heads were: B. J.H.
(Banie) Barnard (1986-1998), D.J. (Dirk)
Verwoerd (part of 1999), J.T. (Janusz)
Paweska (1999-2001) and G.H. (Truuske)
Gerdes as Acting Head (2001-2006). Since
2007 several sections were amalgamated under a program- me manager and effectively the position of heads of sections ceased to exist.
It is obvious that over a period of 100 years many re- searchers were involved in virological research at Onderste- poort. It is therefore impossible to list all the enthusiastic and dedicated people who contributed towards making the Virology Section internationally renowned. Most of the Directors of Onderstepoort (Theiler, du Toit, de Kock, Alexander
“It could be argued that the birth of veterinary virology in South Africa was heralded by Theiler’s demonstration in 1901 that AHS is caused by a filterable agent, thus by
a virus, according to the definition that prevailed at the time.”
197
Virology
1908-2008
Years