About the Pathobiology Department

Historical Perspective on the Department of Animal Diseases
Currently
The Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science

 Dr. Edwin L. Jungherr, an Austrian veterinary pathologist was the first head of the Department of Animal Diseases.   The department was created as an independent unit within the College of Agriculture in 1923.  What follows is a synopsis of important discoveries that were published in peer-reviewed journals from that time forward to the present. 

1935        Jungherr describes fowl paralysis, a form of herpesvirus-induced leukosis, a neurolymphoma. 

1936    Wayne Plastridge, a microbiologist with the department, describes infectious bovine mastitis and works to create a control program. 

1936        Jungherr defines encephalomalacia in chicks, demonstrating that it occurs as a consequence of vitamin E deficiency (published in Science) 

1945       Jungherr characterizes the lesions of Vitamin A deficiency in poultry chicks. 

1950        Plastridge reports successful antibiotic treatment of Vibrio fetus, an infectious cause of abortion in cattle. 

1953        Jungherr, Roy Luginbuhl, and Charles Helmboldt recognize that pheasants serve as sentinel species for eastern equine encephalomyelitis, a serious fatal viral disease of horses and humans. 

1953        Helmboldt and Jungherr define the lesions of vitamin A deficiency in calves 

1954        Jungherr, Luginbuhl, and Mark Tourtellotte define clinical, microbiologic, serologic and histologic features of PPLO (later designated Mycoplasma) infections of poultry. 

1958        Helmboldt defines the histopathology of Aleutian mink disease (later shown to be caused by a parvovirus). 

1958        Jungherr publishes a 45 page treatis on equine eastern encephalomyelitis in the American Journal of Hygiene. 

1959        Jungherr defines bacterial arthritis and tenosynovitis in poultry. 

1960        Tourtellotte defines serologic tests for recognizing Mycoplasma gallisepticum infectious in poultry. 

1961        Helmboldt and Wayne Plastridge define bovine Mycoplasma mastitis. 

1969        Luginbuhl invents Specific Pathogen Free eggs for use in laboratories throughout the world.  

1975    Herbert Van Kruiningen describes the ultrastructure of granulomatous colitis of Boxer dogs. 

1976        Svend Neilsen defines the pathology of methylmercury poisoning in swine, later in cats and canines as well. 

1976        Tom Yang reports on canine transmissible venereal sarcoma. 

1977        Jeff Iltis, Willard Daniels and Stu Wyand demonstrate an adenovirus as the cause of marble spleen disease in pheasants. 

1978        Yang reports features of grey Collie syndrome (cyclic neutropenia). 

1979        Wyand describes streptococcal septicemia in racing Greyhound dogs. 

1985    John Sundberg, David Hill and Nielsen define the histology and electron microscopy of cutaneous fibroma in white-tailed deer. 

1986    John Post defines a serologic test for Lyme disease in animals.  

1987        Van Kruiningen identifies a coronavirus as the cause of winter dysentery of dairy cattle. 

1999        Richard French, Antonio Garmendia and Van Kruiningen contribute to the isolation of West Nile virus from crows in Connecticut (published in Science). 

2000        Garmendia and Van Kruiningen recover the West Nile Virus from a hawk in midwinter. 

      2003    Steve Geary and a team of investigators define the complete genome of Mycoplasma gallisepticum.