| 1 | Name: | Dr. Ho-Wang Lee | |
| Institution: | National Academy of Sciences, Republic of Korea | ||
| Year Elected: | 1998 | ||
| Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 204. Medicine, Surgery, Pathology and Immunology | ||
| Residency: | International | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1928 | ||
| Death Date: | July 5, 2022 | ||
As a medical virologist, Ho-Wang Lee studied Japanese encephalitis (JE) and Korean hemorrhagic fever (KHF), now called Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). The first of these was the success of tissue culture of JE virus, immune mechanism of JE and overwintering mechanisms of JE virus in Korea from 1955-68. The second of these was the isolation of etiologic agents, epidemiology and prevention of HFRS from 1969-o 2004. He isolated etiologic agents of HFRS from Apodemus mice and urban rats and named the virus Hantaan and Seoul in 1976 and 1980, respectively. He elucidated epizootiology and epidemiology of HFRS in 1979-85. Hantaan virus is the origin of genus Hantavirus and he proved world-wide distribution of hantaviruses from 1977-2000. In 1990, he and his colleagues developed a simple rapid diagnostic kit and an inactivated vaccine against HFRS. This vaccine was distributed in Asia and thereafter the number of HFRS patients decreased significantly. | |||