Pediatric infectious diseases: 60 years of contributions by military pediatricians.

Todescribe themany contributions that uniformedpediatricianshave made to the field of pediatric infectious diseases is a complicated task. Part of the difficulty is that for the decades after the end of World War II, a number of talented and brilliant physicians spent short periods of time in the military to fulfill their service obligations. Investigators such as Floyd Denny and Lew Wannamaker published their seminal works on group A b-hemolytic streptococci and rheumatic fever while on active duty in the US Air Force.1 Some of the early work on vaccines for common childhood infections was done by investigators who, at least for a portion of time, wore a military uniform. In addition, many of the contributions of military physicians were often made alongside and in concert with their civilian colleagues.