The Flu Hunters

It was a subtle warp in an otherwise routine day. Dr. Wilina Lim, chief virologist with the Hong Kong Department of Health, was sorting through the usual load of blood and tissue specimens sent to her laboratory from nearby hospitals, typically about 80 a day. On this particular day--Tuesday, May 20, 1997--one specimen came from Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon, at the far side of Victoria Harbor, where a three-year-old boy had been admitted with what turned out to be a fatal respiratory illness. Her lab quickly determined that the infectious agent was some type of Influenza A, one of two...