How an SA team of scientists hunted a rare hantavirus strain
Daily Maverick | 11.05.2026 06:13
It started with an email that arrived late on Friday, 1 May 2026, a public holiday, from a concerned colleague. The message was from a UK infectious disease specialist to Professor Lucille Blumberg of the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), and it set events in motion that led to her team finding a rare virus as the cause of an outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius within 24 hours.
