 In the 1950s, improvements in virus isolation and detection methods resulted in the discovery of several important human viruses including varicella zoster virus, the paramyxoviruses, – which include measles virus, and respiratory syncytial virus – and the rhinoviruses that cause the common cold.In the 1960s more viruses were discovered.In 1963, the hepatitis B virus was discovered by Baruch Blumberg (b.