Feature
Deep in the Jungle, Virus Hunters Are Working to Stop the Next Pandemic
Five years after Covid-19, governments are relying on remote fever clinics supported by Abbott to spot future threats.
Illustration: Tameem Sankari for Bloomberg Businessweek
Deep in the Amazon rainforest, where Colombia stretches down to touch Peru and Brazil, Hospital San Rafael is overwhelmed. It’s a sweltering spring afternoon, and the rows of white plastic chairs inside the clinic are packed. They have been for days. Some patients are slumped in their seats, eyes closed, breathing slowly. Others, masks at their chins, yell after children running through the hallway. The humidity makes 90F feel well over 100. A few people are fanning themselves with medical records.