Patrick Laidlaw

Patrick Playfair Laidlaw (1881-1940) was a British virologist.

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He was one of the scientists working at the Medical Research Council at Mill Hill who first isolated influenza virus from humans.[1] This happened when ferrets they were working on to develop a distemper vaccine caught influenza from one of the scientists in the laboratory.

Further reading

• Smith W, Andrewes CH, Laidlaw PP. A virus obtained from influenza patients. Lancet. 1933;2:66–8.
• Distemper and Influenza at Mill Hill by Rick Carver and John Skehel from Mill Hill Essays 2000