Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC

by Joseph B. McCormick

The investigation was simplified to some degree because Kate and Steve were dealing with Asian Ebola virus in this instance and not a mixture of Ebola and simian hemorrhagic fever as in Reston. Most facilities, including the Texas one, administered a tuberculin skin test to monkeys as soon as they arrived. TB is a major problem in caged monkeys, particularly newly arrived animals. The test calls for a reagent to be injected in a tiny dose under the skin in the soft folds around the eye. If the animal is actively infected by TB, the injection produces a large bump. The reagent comes in vials containing several doses, while rhe narrow syringe itself can, in theory, accommodate eight doses; however, because of the “dead space” in the needle shaft, you can only draw up enough at one time for seven injections. A trivial detail, this turned out to be the key to solving the riddle of how this particular group of monkeys became infected.