Measles, sneezles, and things that go mumps in the night
Click here for an interactive timeline of Paramyxoviridae facts.
Fifth Century, B.C.E. Hippocrates describes epidemic levels of orchitis and parotitis - early documentation of mumps.
10th Century Arabic physicians initially identify measles as mild smallpox.
1600s Sydenham describes measles as a distinct clinical entity.
1846 Danish physician Peter Panum recognizes measles' path of contagion through experiment in the Farow Islands.
1905 Hektoen persuades people to volunteer for measles transmission experiment.
1911 Anderson and Goldberger transmit measles to monkeys.
1918 Nicolle and Conseil demonstrate that inoculation of measles antibody-containing serum prevented/lessened clinical disease.
1932 Dawson first suggests that SSPE may be virally mediated.
1945 Measles virus propagated in embryonated chicken eggs.
1954 John Enders and Thomas Peebles isolate measles virus by growing it in post nasal tissue.
The MMR vaccine is licensed and introduced to the American public.
1967 J.H. Connolly links SSPE to measles virus.
1984 PAHO initiates enhanced measles eradication strategies for the region of the Americas, targeting elimination of measles from the Western Hemisphere by 2000.
1994 Hendra virus first seen in racehorses and their trainers in Queensland, Australia. The virus is later traced to fruit bat reservoir.
1997 Menangle virus discovered in Australian piggery; 2 of 250 workers there develop flu-like illness and rash.
1999 Nipah virus appears in malaysia; kills over 110 people, most of whom work with swine.
2000 Tioman virus discovered.
2001 The United States reports zero deaths due to measles.
2001 Human metapneumovirus isolated in the Netherlands; later mistaken as cause of SARS. |
