Hercules Seghers, c 1589/1590 – c 1633/1640, was a Dutch painter and printmaker born in Haarlem. He probably trained in Amsterdam with the Flemish landscape painter Gillis van Coninxloo and was admitt...

Fifty years after helping identify the Ebola virus, Belgian scientist Dr. Peter Piot remains deeply concerned about the world’s ability to prevent and contain infectious-disease outbreaks. In 1976, Piot was a 27-year-old researcher at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp when he examined blood samples sent from Yambuku, in what was then Zaire and is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. The samples came from a Flemish nun who had died of a mysterious illness. Under the microscope, Piot and colleagues saw an unusual, threadlike virus unlike typical spherical viruses. The pathogen was later named Ebola, after a nearby river, and the discovery involved Congolese doctors, local investigators, and researchers in Antwerp and Atlanta. The article also traces Piot’s later role in the HIV response. In the early 1980s, his work in Africa helped show that HIV was not confined to gay men, challenging a widespread misconception. He later became the first executive director of UNAIDS in 1995 and helped draw global attention to AIDS among poor and marginalized communities. Now 77, Piot argues that infectious diseases remain a persistent threat because outbreaks emerge in places weakened by conflict, fragile health systems, misinformation, and limited access to care. He points to the current Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in Congo, which had sickened nearly 9,000 people and caused more than 4,200 deaths as of October 6. Piot says Ebola should be easier to control than airborne diseases because it spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids, but conflict, sexual violence, unsafe burial practices, and a struggling health system make the response extremely difficult. He also calls for a more integrated approach to global health, arguing that disease-specific institutions such as UNAIDS should eventually give way to systems organized around people and broader health needs.

ALT: Archers Aiming for Battle