Yellow fever?

"I think it's yellow fever," you say. "After all, they were flying the yellow jack."

Claudia frowns. "But isn't yellow fever a disease of warm regions?"

"Right," William says. "Because it's transmitted by a mosquito."

"Aren't there mosquitoes in the Arctic?" you ask.

"There's an unbelievable number -- in the summertime," William says. "But in the winter, no."

"That's a good point about the yellow jack," Claudia tells you. "They clearly had some dangerous infections going around."

"But I do believe infection is not what killed those five people," William says thoughtfully. "They had something else in common." He is peering at his piece of paper.

"You keep jotting on that," Claudia observes. "Are you ever going to twig us what it's about?"

"It's a chart," William says. "A chart of the mystery." He lays it on the table, and you and Claudia crowd around him for a look.

An Access Excellence Science Mystery sponsored by Genentech, Inc.
Copyright © 1997 Genentech, Inc.; all rights reserved.