Karl M Johnson is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 ...

born 1929, known for discovering

Machupo virus Bolivian hemorrhagic fever (BHF), also known as black typhus or Ordog Fever, is a hemorrhagic fever and zoonotic infectious disease originating in Bolivia after infection by ''Machupo mammarenavirus''.Public Health Agency of Canada: ''Machupo Vir ...

Hantaan virus ''Hantaan orthohantavirus'' (HTNV) is an enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA virus species of Old World ''Orthohantavirus''. It is the causative agent of Korean hemorrhagic fever in humans. It is named for the Hantan River in South K ...

, and

Ebola Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after becom ...

virus. He has held key positions in the

American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) is an Arlington, Virginia-based non-profit organization of scientists, clinicians, students and program professionals whose longstanding mission is to promote global health through the ...

Education and career

Johnson studied medicine at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

, and earned an

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

and completed his medical residency at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York. He then worked at the

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIAID's ...

(NIAID) with respiratory cold viruses. Johnson moved to the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

(NIH) field laboratory in the Panama Canal Zone, studying

hemorrhagic fever Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are a diverse group of animal and human illnesses in which fever and hemorrhage are caused by a viral infection. VHFs may be caused by five distinct families of RNA viruses: the families ''Filoviridae'', ''Flav ...

agents. His time at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) subsequently the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

in Atlanta, led to field work in Africa and Korea, where he established the first completely suited Level-4 laboratory of “special pathogens” for the safe study of viruses capable of infection by the respiratory route. While at the CDC, Johnson’s team isolated and named Ebola virus in Zaire and was instrumental in the discovery of Hantaan virus in Korea, as well as serving as Chief of the Special Pathogens Branch, Virology Division. He has heavily contributed to the tropical virology field. In 1981, he left the CDC to work for the

United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID; pronounced: you-SAM-rid) is the U.S Army's main institution and facility for defensive research into countermeasures against biological warfare. It is located ...

as the Program Director of Hazardous Viruses. He has also served as an adjunct professor of Medicine and biology at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

, where his energy is focused on hantaviral disease and ecology.

Naming the viruses

Johnson is credited with naming the Ebola virus. In an attempt to avoid stigmatization of communities, he sought alternate names that would give geographical relations, but would not directly name specific communities. He named the

Ebola virus ''Zaire ebolavirus'', more commonly known as Ebola virus (; EBOV), is one of six known species within the genus ''Ebolavirus''. Four of the six known ebolaviruses, including EBOV, cause a severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and ot ...

after a river near the

Yambuku Yambuku is a small village in Mongala Province in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was the center of the first documented outbreak of Ebola virus disease, in 1976, with the World Health Organization identifying a man from Yambuku as th ...

community in Northern Zaire, in which the virus was originally found - the Ebola river.

Awards and honors

Johnson was the 2011 recipient of the Ed Nowakowski Senior Memorial Clinical Virology Award.

References

* Zoonotic Diseases—An Interview with Karl M. Johnson, M.D. {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Karl Living people American virologists Year of birth missing (living people) Presidents of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene