During its first century the journal attracted well over 100 papers on poxviruses. During the last 50 years this was probably due in part to the fact that Allan Downie, the world's leading poxvirus authority helped to edit the journal from 1951 to 1982. This expertise and association was acknowledged by the publication of a special academic tribute of 12 papers, including 5 on poxviruses, in 1982 (89: 353–478).