Lessons learnt from the global outbreak of a Darwinian masterpiece: Virus influenza A (H1N1) 2009
Abstract
Following the Second World War, the World Health Organization established a worldwide network of laboratories to track influenza viruses. The intention then, and now, was to give prior warning of the emergence of new antigenic and drug-resistant variants1 of this most unpredictable and global virus. The contribution of the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases has been outstanding in this regard and, to some extent, has acted as a sentinel for the whole continent. Prof Barry Schoub, in turn, has been at the epicentre of this most academic and yet practical research and diagnostic centre.