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HERE’S a story. Deep in the tropics lies the poverty-stricken city of
Bisfara. Outbreaks of fever are common enough here, but last summer a new, more
deadly variety emerged. The first cases were scattered all over the city.
Doctors had no mechanism for reporting them, and it was a week before public
health authorities realised they had a new problem. But what exactly were they
dealing with? Symptoms included fever, aches, sometimes a cough. The death rate
was alarmingly high. Was it flu? Dengue fever? Pneumonic plague? A hantavirus?
Something completely new? Standard diagnostic techniques were inconclusive. What
happened next?…