Keith Rodney Dumbell (2 October 1922 – 27 May 2018) was a British

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, their ...

who worked on research and eradication of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

Early life and education

Dumbell was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and gained his

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

in 1944 from the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

. Shortly after graduation, he began to work with smallpox expert

Allan Watt Downie Allan Watt Downie FRS (5 September 1901 – 26 January 1988) was a Scottish microbiologist involved in the eradication of smallpox. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is ...

in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Liverpool. Dumbell's early aptitude for research resulted in the publication of his first paper with Downie in 1947, describing the cultivation of the

smallpox virus Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) cer ...

on the

chorioallantoic membrane The Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM), also known as the chorioallantois, is a highly vascularized membrane found in the eggs of certain amniotes like birds and reptiles. It is formed by the fusion of the mesodermal layers of two extra-embryonic memb ...

hen's eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

Career

Dumbell was head of the Virology Department at

St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is an NHS hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, wh ...

, and on this position one of the key international experts on smallpox. He was head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Poxvirus Research at the St Mary's Hospital between 1969 and 1981. He was a member of the Global Commission and several expert groups on poxvirus infections. He used the

gene cloning Molecular cloning is a set of experimental methods in molecular biology that are used to assemble recombinant DNA molecules and to direct their replication within host organisms. The use of the word ''cloning'' refers to the fact that the metho ...

technique to copy fragments of smallpox viral DNA into bacteria, where they could be safely archived and studied later. Following the

1978 smallpox outbreak in the United Kingdom The 1978 smallpox outbreak in the United Kingdom resulted in the death of Janet Parker, a British medical photographer, who became the last recorded person to die from smallpox. Her illness and death, which was connected to the deaths of two oth ...

, Dumbell served as an expert witness. Following the outbreak, the British Government ordered transfer of Dumbell's British collection of smallpox strains from the St Mary's Hospital Medical School to the Centre for Applied Microbiology in

Porton Down Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl ...

. Dumbell was among the signatories of the Declaration of global eradication of smallpox on 8 May 1980. Following the Declaration, World Health Organization ordered consolidation of virus strain collections worldwide into two high-secure ( BSL-4) facilities in the United States and Russia and destruction of the remaining unneeded samples. Dumbell personally escorted the shipment of British sample collection into the

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency, under the United S ...

center in Atlanta.

Retirement and death

After the death of his first wife, Dumbell remarried a South African woman and moved to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa, in the mid-1980s. He joined the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

, where he retired. As a

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of medical virology, he gave advice to post-graduate students. Dumbell died in Cape Town on 27 May 2018, aged 95, from natural causes. He was interred on 6 June 2018.

Personal life

In 1950, Dumbell married Brenda Margaret Heathcote. Together they had two daughters, including Alison White. a Church of England bishop. Brenda died in 1971, and the following year Dumbell married Susan Herd. Together they had two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumbell, Keith 1922 births 2018 deaths British virologists Smallpox eradication