In 2373 a group of Garans mining a planet developed a virus they contacted the nearby USS Voyager, which agreed to lend assistance. Arriving three hours later, Voyager beamed down its holographic medical doctor, who found the Garans to be suffering from an advanced viral infection. After discovering a form of a macrovirus, the Doctor was forced to return to Voyager in order to continue studying the strange virus. A Tak Tak vessel would later attack the mining colony in order to "purify" the Garans so as to prevent the spread of the virus. The Doctor would later develop a synthetic antigen capable of killing the macrovirus.