This is a brief story of the Trinidad Regional Virus Laboratory-TRVL-sometimes called "Travail". The story, of course, is well known to arbovirologists and entomologists around the world but the story is not well known amongst Caribbean Health Officials and the lay public. This is an attempt to fill this gap. It is not intended to be an analytical account but the story is told as it unfolded. Evidence that TRVL was internationally recognised