infectious cause for the outbreak. However, in 1949, Weller, Enders, and others,
including Finn (12), retrieved frozen material from the outbreak and isolated again a
Coxsackie Group B type 1 strain from the specimens. In 1950 and 1951, Dr. Robert J.
Huebner and associates (12) of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, NIH were called to
investigate an outbreak of epidemic pleurodynia in northeast Texas. They were able to
isolate a Coxsackie Group B type 3 strain from 16 of 22 cases contemporarily with the
occurrence of the epidemic. Dr. Huebner was a young investigator, with an already
distinguished research reputation, whom Dr. Armstrong recruited for the Laboratory in
1944 when Armstrong was the Chief. The etiology of epidemic pleurodynia thus appears
to be one or more strains of Group B Coxsackie viruses. Studies in the later 1950s
showed previously undisclosed potential virulence. They also have been found to cause
fatal meningoencephalitis (brain infections) in newborns (13), and they are recognized as
causes of infant and adult myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle).
Miscellaneous Assignments
Pasteurization of Milk.
One of the Laboratory’s functions was oversight on the integrity of the nation’s
milk supply (14A, B, C). In November 1922 the Laboratory apparently detailed
Armstrong to cooperate in developing a program for a meeting of the World’s Dairy
Congress. The President of the Congress Association thanked the Laboratory for
Armstrong’s participation (1). On March 26, 1923, the Laboratory ordered Armstrong to
go to Endicott, New York to observe a series of tests of commercial pasteurizing
machines in connection with experimental work on the pasteurization of milk (1). On