[Reorientation of German tropical medicine--research on smallpox vaccine in post-war Germany].

The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) supported a reorientation of research in tropical medicine after the Second World War, in the direction of virus research, by financing relevant research projects and the establishment of entire departments, or by guaranteeing the subsistence of institutes. During the post-war period research was focussed on the smallpox vaccine, especially because severe vaccine-induced side effects, such as post-vaccination encephalitis, attracted attention. Research on smallpox vaccination thus formed the backbone of German tropical medical research and its institutional basis, with the DFG providing the financial basis.