Dr. Paul Parkman, who helped eliminate rubella, dies at 91
Dr. Paul D. Parkman, whose research was instrumental in identifying the virus that causes rubella and developing a vaccine that prevented an epidemic of the disease in the United States for more than 50 years, died May 7 at his home in Auburn, New York, in the Finger Lakes region. He was 91 years old.The cause was lymphoblastic leukemia, said granddaughter Theresa M. Leonardi.Rubella, also known as German measles because German scientists classified it in the 19th century, is a moderate disease for most patients, identified by a patchy and often itchy red rash. But during pregnancy it can cause the birth of babies with severe physical and mental disabilities and can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths.In the 1950s, when Dr. Parkman was a pediatric medicine resident at the State Unive...