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Figure. Manor House on the 350-acre Shinfield Manor estate, which later became home to the National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, England, after being founded in 1912. The Bacteriology and Metabolic Departments with associated…
Microbiologist Ellen I. Garvie achieved a prolific oeuvre working at the National Institute for Research in Dairying in Shinfield, UK, during the 1960s and 1970s (Figure). Yet her biographical footprint is sparse, a commentary on society’s failure to adequately acknowledge women scientists. In 1983, Garvie was duly recognized for her accomplishments when the bacterium Streptococcus garvieae, a causative agent of bovine mastitis, was named in her honor. After taxonomy clarification, primarily on the basis of similarity of lipid biochemistry, S. garvieae was transferred to the Lactococcus (lac-, Latin for milk; –coccus, meaning sphere) epithet in 1985. L. garvieae emerged as a threat to fish and to humans consuming infected fish. In further recognition of Garvie’s work, this issue includes a case report of a serious L. garvieae bloodstream infection (page XXX) and a first-hand account of the patient’s harrowing encounter with the organism (page XXX).