The Virus Hunter

Clarence James Peters, 77, plied his trade during the golden age of virus hunting, when scientists often did first and asked second. Peters travelled the globe to study the spread of Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Rift Valley fever, and a host of viruses including Zika, Ebola and Sin Nombre. Before the imposition of strict rules and voluminous material transfer agreements, scientists were known to bring home viral trophies surreptitiously — they called that flying “VIP,” for “vial in pocket.” This short profile is filled with arresting detail from a bygone era, including the time Peters found himself driving through suburban Washington, D.C., with five plastic-wrapped monkeys, their frozen corpses teeming with Ebola viruses, in the trunk of his car.