Dr. Ferenc Fornosi was born in Tiszaújlak in 1919, so he began his medical studies in German at the Charles University in Prague, and accomplished them at the University of Debrecen. As he had studied under Professor Sántha at the university, he gained knowledge and approach decisive for his whole professional life, and that is the origin of his particular interest for the diseases of the central nervous system of viral origin.

He got from Debrecen to the National Public Health Institute in 1946 - first as a Ministerial Councilor of Department of Economic and HR Affairs, and as Head of Department from 1947 - and then he could deploy all his knowledge and energy for the examination of the professional questions which interested him.

As Head of the Pasteur Laboratory from 1950, he elaborated and introduced a modification in the production of the rabies vaccines that resulted in a product with considerably lower risks for severe side-effects of the vaccine.

From 1950-51, in the field of the neurotrop virus research he detected the relationship of the Hungarian and foreign tick-born encephalitis viruses. He proved that the tick-borne encephalitis outbreak of 1929 was caused by the virus-like isolated in 1955 too.

He got his candidates degree for his dissertation on this topic in 1966.

He participated in the experimental production of the polio vaccine in Hungary and intensively studied the production of the tissue cultures indispensable for the production and control of virus vaccines and the related activities.

As the Department evolved from the Pasteur Laboratory, the production of the rabies vaccine continued during his whole active work period.

The vaccination against poliomyelitis began from the second part of the 1950s and that of against measles at the end of the 1960s, and these vaccines were imported, so the already existing control by the Hungarian prescriptions could not be realized. Due to his knowledge of languages (English, Russian, German, and French) and solid professional knowledge and also to his diplomatic sense and style of negotiation he managed to obtain that the producer should transport the production numbers chosen by the results of the examinations of the so-called "pre-samples".

During the examination of the diseases of the central nervous system of viral origin he analyzed the efficiency of the vaccines against tick-born encephalitis, the action of the (post-expositional) vaccines used against rabies with a particular considering on the inter-feronogenity of the individual vaccines produced by different producers, on different tissue cultures from different virus isolates, and analyzed the influence of the vaccine against measles too, with the rollback of the wild virus circulation, on the prevalence of the sub-acute sclerotizing panencephalitis cases.

Under his direction the first Hungarian Entero-71 stem from a case mentioned as a measles post-vaccination encephalitis death was isolated in 1978.

During his professional activity he was a member of the Vaccine Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences - Ministry of Health, that of the Committee created for the revision of the "Vaccination Schedule" of the Professional College of the NPHI, that of the Commission of the National Defense of the Ministry of Health and that of the Editorial Committee of "Voproszy Virologii".
He was the Secretary General of the Hungarian Society for Microbiology and Board Member of the Hungarian Association of Hygienists.
His professional work was awarded by the title of Excellent Doctor in 1981, by "4th April Medal" in 1986.

He was decorated with Rezső Manninger Medallion by the Hungarian Society for Microbiology in 1980.
He was decorated with József Fodor Medallion by the Hungarian Association of Hygienists in 1987.

He retired in 1986.

Publications of Dr. Ferenc Fornosi

Dr. Imre Lontai
NCE Department of Control of Vaccines
Retired Head of Department