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5 Sometimes, of course, expensive, time-consuming task, and the child's family often won't consent to such an invasive procedure. In 2013, with funding from the Gates Foundation, researchers at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health developed a procedure called minimally invasive autopsy, or tissue sampling, which involves getting small samples from the child's body for testing.5 Sometimes, of course, the family members find it too painful to allow a stranger to study their baby in this way. But many agree to the request. As the name implies, the process is far less invasive than a full autopsy, but studies have shown that it produces comparable results. Although it is used in only a small number of cases and wasn't created with pandemic prevention in mind--the purpose was to give broader insights into child mortality--the information gleaned from minimally invasive autopsies can give researchers early evidence of an outbreak that is killing children. I witnessed one of these autopsies during a trip South Africa in 2016. I had read about how the procedure worked, but I knew that watching one in person would help me understand it in a way that no memo or briefing document ever could. It's an experience that I will never forget. On July 12, 2016, a baby boy had been born to a family in Soweto, outside Johannesburg. Three days later, he died. His heartbroken parents, hoping to spare other families the same grief, decided to allow doctors to perform the minimally invasive tissue sampling. They also graciously agreed to let me be present when it was done. (I was not there when the request was made.) At a mortuary in Soweto, I watched as a doctor carefully used a long, narrow needle to remove small samples of tissue from the baby's liver and lungs. He also drew a small amount of