The cruise ship MV Hondius off the coast of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde

The cruise ship MV Hondius off the coast of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde

It was the start of a long weekend in South Africa on Friday when Lucille Blumberg received an email from a fellow infectious disease specialist about an unknown illness on a cruise ship.

She would go on to play an instrumental role in getting samples from people who had been on the ship tested for hantavirus, which revealed the rare illness was behind a deadly outbreak that has sparked an international health scare.

Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

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