Yvonne Cossart

Yvonne Edna Cossart AO (14 August 1934 – 16 December 2014) was an Australian virologist, who discovered the parvovirus B19 in 1975. Parvovirus B19, or Fifth Disease, causes a mild illness in children.

Cossart graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science in 1957 and MBBS in 1959.

The majority of Cossart's work was on hepatitis, starting in 1967. She was key in testing, survey, and prevention of hepatitis in hospitals and communities. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours for "service to medicine as a specialist in infectious diseases, especially in the areas of virological research, epidemiology and disease prevention, and to education".

Towards the latter part of her life, Cossart dedicated efforts to developing teaching programs for medical curriculum, involvement in university affairs, and supervising post-graduate research students. In 1986, she was appointed as a Bosch Professor of Infectious Diseases and Immunology until she retired in 2006.

Cossart died at Greenwich Hospital on 16 December 2014, aged 80.