Well, this is disconcerting. According to an announcement today from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), vials of the smallpox virus were found in a lab in Maryland that was not only unapproved to be handling the live pathogens—it was unequipped.
Though we've eradicated smallpox, the disease is so wildly infectious that it qualifies as a bioterrorism threat, meaning we keep it around just in case we ever need a new vaccine. What's more, only two labs in the entire world are legally permitted to handle the stuff: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Atlanta headquarters and the VECTOR Institute in Russia. In other words, not the NIH's Bethesda, Maryland campus.
Vials Full of Smallpox Were Just Found In an Unapproved Lab
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