Other Names: None; later renamed the National Institute for Communicative Diseases
Location: On the Rietfontein farm near the northeastern boundary of Johannesburg, across the road from the Rietfontein Hospital for infectious diseases
Subordinate to: South African Department of Health
Size: NIV consists of a complex of buildings located on a large farm
Primary Function: NIV is a public health institute that "functions as the national resource center for viral diseases in South Africa." It may have carried out some subsidized BW virus research under the auspices—knowingly or not—of Project Coast.

Description:
NIV is a sizeable viral disease center that may have carried out some BW research and testing for Project Coast. The institute was originally established as the Poliomyelitis Research Foundation in 1948, in the wake of a particularly severe outbreak of poliomyelitis. In April 1976, following the 1975 outbreak of the Marburg virus, its mission was greatly expanded, it was transformed into NIV, a new wing was added, and its laboratories were brought under the administrative control of the Department of Health. Over the years NIV has grown into a very large, complex, and productive organization that has made some remarkable advances in virological research. A highly specialized maximum security P4 laboratory known as the Special Pathogens Unit was opened at NIV in 1979. This lab, which was then one of only half a dozen or so P4 facilities in the world, was placed under the direction of Professor Bob Swanepoel. In 1987 an AIDS Virus Research Unit was opened at NIV, and it has since become one of the center's largest units.

The principal tasks of NIV are to provide 1) comprehensive medical virological diagnostic services; 2) reference virology services; 3) viral surveillance and monitoring; 4) teaching and training; and 5) research on virological problems relevant to the population of South Africa. The center also performs these valuable functions for other countries, above all those on the African continent. NIV's Clinical Virology Division includes specialized laboratories devoted to influenza, polio, hepatitis, RSV, and measles. The aforementioned Special Pathogens Unit is responsible for the diagnosis and investigation of exceptionally dangerous viruses such as Marburg, Ebola, Rift Valley Fever, Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, and members of the Lassa fever and Hanta groups, and for this purpose has been outfitted with both a cabinet-line laboratory with glove boxes and a protective suit laboratory.

Exactly what role NIV played in the South African CBW program remains to be determined. Project Officer Wouter Basson later testified that research on viruses was contracted out to NIV and various universities, not carried out at the BW facility Roodeplaat Research Laboratories. This remains to be substantiated, however.

Key Sources: Centre for Conflict Resolution, Basson Trial: Weekly Summaries of Court Proceedings, October 1999-April 2002, testimony of Basson; National Institute for Virology website, <www.niv.ac.za>.

	Updated February 2004