CCU Laboratory work

Papers within this section relate to work carried out for the CCU's laboratory and epidemiological research into the common cold, as well as work undertaken at the CCU on behalf of WHO.

In 1960, the CCU was established as a WHO International Reference Laboratory for Respiratory Virus Disesases (renamed WHO Collaborating Centre for Virus Reference and Research in 1974).

In the USA, the WHO respiratory virus laboratory was at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Maryland, under Dr R M Chanock. The laboratories shared resources, sending serological identities of strains and other specimens to each other for use in clinical trials. As a result, scientists were then able to isolate strains in their own laboratories. The network of WHO virus disease reference laboratories allowed scientists to share findings internationally and compare laboratory results.

This section contains lab notes, consisting mostly of rough handwritten notes, protocols, results and observations from clinical trials; as well as specimen dispatch books and correspondence, which detail orders for laboratory specimens, including sera and antisera, and include passage histories.

1951-1990

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This section contains laboratory records relating to WHO laboratory work, as well as experiments conducted for the CCU.