Frosch, Paul
Silvia Berger, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Published online: July 2015
DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0002798
Abstract
Paul Frosch (1860–1928) was a German bacteriologist and a pioneer of animal virology. He worked at the Institute for Infectious
Diseases in Berlin as a close co‐worker of Robert Koch, the leading figure of medical bacteriology, and became later appointed
professor at the veterinary school in Berlin. On the basis of a study on typhoid, Frosch introduced the term ‘infection carrier’
for infected persons without manifest symptoms, and emphasised the role they played in spreading the epidemic. The concept
subsequently became the cornerstone of epidemic control for a variety of infectious diseases in Germany. In 1898, Frosch pioneered
virus research when he described the aetiological agent of the foot‐and‐mouth disease together with Friedrich Loeffler, characterising
it as an ultravisible, filterable substance.
Further Reading
Frosch P (1894) Die Cholera im Gebiete der Netze, Warthe und Oder im Jahre 1894. Arbeiten aus dem Kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamt 12: 175–217.
Frosch P (1908) Moderne Typhusbekämpfung. Bericht über den 14. Internationalen Kongress für Hygiene und Demographie, Berlin 23.–29. September 1907, Berlin (Bd. 3, Sektion I: Hygienische Mikrobiologie und Parasitologie), 1119–1130.
Hartwigk H (1961) Frosch, Paul Max Otto. In: Bayrische Akademie der Wissenschaften (eds) Neue deutsche Biographie. vol. 5, p. 664. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Horzinek MC (1995) The beginnings of animal virology in Germany. Archives of Virology 140: 1159–1162.
Horzinek MC (1999) Importance and impact of veterinary virology in Germany. In: Calisher CH (ed.) 100 Years of Virology. The Birth and Growth of a Discipline. Wien: Springer.
Loeffler F and Frosch P (1898) Berichte der Kommission zur Erforschung der Maul‐ und Klauenseuche beim Institut für Infektionskrankheiten in Berlin. Centralblatt für Bakteriologie Parasitenkunde und Infektionskrankheiten Abt. 1 (23): 371–391.
Mendelsohn A (1996) Cultures of Bacteriology. Formation and Transformation of a Science in France and Germany, 1870–1914. Dissertation, Princeton University, pp 613–631.
Rott R and Siddell S (1998) One hundred years of animal virology. Journal of General Virology 79: 2871–2874.
Uhlenhuth P (1928) Paul Frosch zum Gedächtnis. Zeitschrift für Immunitätsforschung und Experimentelle Therapie 58: I–IV.
Zaki R (2010) Paul Frosch. Pionier der Virologie. Heidelberg.
