Dr. Robert M. Chanock dies at 86; virologist broke ground in respiratory virus research
Saturday, August 21, 2010 - 00:28
in Health & Medicine
Chanock isolated the deadly respiratory syncytial virus and four para-influenza viruses. He also identified the cause of walking pneumonia and pioneered the development of nasal spray flu vaccine.Dr. Robert M. Chanock, a virologist who made a remarkable series of discoveries about respiratory viruses in the 1960s and 1970s, including the isolation of the deadly respiratory syncytial virus and four para-influenza viruses, died Aug. 4 at a residential care center in Sykesville, Md. He was 86 and had Alzheimer's disease.