Dr Ruth Bishop was a leading member of the team that discovered the human rotavirus.
In 1973, she, along with G. Davidson (RCH), and collaborators I.Holmes & B.Ruck (University of Melbourne) examined cells from the intestines of children with gastroenteritis. Intestinal biopsies were taken at The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and sent to Ian Holmes and Brian Ruck (University of Melbourne) to be examined by electron-microscopy.[1] Under the electron microscope cells were seen to be infected with viruses, which were originally named duovirus because they were seen in the duodenum and had a double capsid. The name rotavirus was later suggested by the Irishman, Thomas Henry Flewett, because of the round, wheel-like shape of virus particles. Rotaviruses cause diarrhoea and vomiting in young children and are a leading cause of death in the developing countries.
Dr Ruth Bishop has also published theoretical works about the patterns in the epidemiology of rotavirus infection.[2]