Why Viruskenner?

Infectious diseases, old and new, can suddenly appear and cause an outbreak (epidemic or
pandemic). Important examples are Ebola, Chikungunya, Zika and Yellow fever virus.
Unfortunately, we do not yet have treatment for most new virus infections and developing a
vaccine takes time. The slogan ‘prevention is better than cure’ is certainly the case here and
knowledge is the most effective antivirus.

That is exactly what Viruskenner does. Over the past few weeks, almost 5000 students on 3
continents (Europe, Asia and South America) and in 3 countries (Surinam, Indonesia and the
Netherlands) have started the project Viruskenner. They learn how viruses spread and lead
to infection and disease, share knowledge with each other and devise ways to disseminate
that knowledge. Knowledge needed to prevent the spread of virus infections.