Walter Plowright (1923 to 2010) was an English veterinary scientist who devoted his career to eradicating the cattle disease rinderpest. Working in Kenya and Nigeria he adapted the cell culture techniques used to develop the polio vaccine to produce a live attenuated tissue culture rinderpest vaccine, using a monolayer of kidney cells to culture the virus until it became non-virulent, transmissible between cattle and able to produce lifelong immunity, and unlike earlier vaccines safe for use in all types of cattle. He received the 1999 World Food Prize for this work, and rinderpest went on to become the first animal disease eliminated worldwide.
Facts
Defining ContributionDeveloped the tissue culture rinderpest vaccine (TCRV), the key tool that let rinderpest become the first animal disease eliminated worldwide; awarded the 1999 World Food Prize for this work. 1 In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Walter Plowright (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead paragraph, opening sentence
Walter Plowright (20 July 1923 in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, 19 February 2010 in London) was an English veterinary scientist who devoted his career to the eradication of the cattle plague rinderpest.
Lead paragraph, second sentence
Plowright received the 1999 World Food Prize for his development of tissue culture rinderpest vaccine (TCRV), the key element in the quest to eliminate rinderpest.
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