Perhaps the first written record of a virus infection consists of a heiroglyph from Memphis, drawn in approximately 1400BC, which depicts a temple priest called Siptah showing typical clinical signs of paralytic poliomyelitis◼ Perhaps the first written record of a virus infection consists of a heiroglyph from Memphis, drawn in approximately 1400BC, which depicts a temple priest called Siptah showing typical clinical signs of paralytic poliomyelitis