She was looking for rodents. The Scripps Research Institute biologist wanted to know how and where her enemy spreads viral hemorrhagic fever: things like Ebola and Lassa, diseases that can kill. Soon, she got what she came for. Standing in a hut, Saphire looked low and saw holes that vermin had burrowed close to where people sleep. Mice and rats were on a hunt for food.
"I already knew that the virus spreads," Saphire said on a recent morning, recalling her 6,700-mile trip to Sierra Leone. "I went because I might learn something about where the virus is, how it changes, something that would help me later."
Awe crept into her voice: "The number and variety and changeability in viruses is almost unknowable. They're outpacing us, and we cannot fight them without the best minds and best technologies."
