Smallpox Discovered In Old Storage Room Near D.C.

Smallpox Discovered In Old Storage Room Near D.C.

By Lauren Raab, Los Angeles Times

National Institutes of Health workers preparing to move a lab in Bethesda, Md., found an unwelcome surprise in a storage room this month: vials of smallpox.

There is no evidence that any of the vials was breached, and no lab workers or members of the public were exposed to the infectious and potentially deadly virus, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its announcement Tuesday.

The vials labeled variola — a name for the smallpox virus — were found July 1 “in an unused portion of a storage room” and seem to date to the 1950s, the CDC said. They were immediately put into a containment lab, then moved Monday to the CDC’s containment facility in Atlanta, it said.

The samples are being tested to see whether any of them are viable — that is, can grow — and will then be destroyed, the CDC said.

The most common type of smallpox is serious, contagious, and frequently fatal, with about 30 percent of cases resulting in death, according to the CDC. Luckily, the disease was declared eradicated in 1980 after a worldwide vaccination program.

The last U.S. case of smallpox was in 1949, and the last naturally occurring case anywhere in the world was in Somalia in 1977, according to the CDC. Since then, according to the World Health Organization, the only known cases stemmed from a 1978 lab accident in England.

By international agreement, live smallpox samples are supposed to be held in only two places worldwide: one at the CDC in Atlanta and the other near Novosibirsk, Russia. A debate has been taking place in recent years over whether (or when) to destroy the last living strains of the virus. Some argue that the disease could re-emerge, so virus samples are needed to conduct research that would protect the public. Others argue that keeping live samples is the very thing ensuring smallpox is not fully wiped out.

The World Health Organization decided in May to postpone a decision on whether to destroy remaining stocks.

Photo via WikiCommons

Interested in national news? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!

Advertising

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

Trump Touts New Push To 'Repeal And Replace' Obamacare

The late Sen. John McCain gives thumbs down to Affordable Care Act repeal in July 2017

Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

Donald Trump is once again living in the past, trying to resurrect a Republican political debacle that even the Freedom Caucus has abandoned: Obamacare repeal. “The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives," he spewed on Truth Social on Saturday.

Keep reading...Show less
George Santos
Rep. George Santos
George Santos

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on Monday afternoon said he has spoken toRep. George Santos, suggesting the embattled and indicted New York Republican might resign rather than face an impending expulsion vote he’s likely to lose. But over the holiday weekend, Santos suggested he was not going to go without a fight, as he appeared to take a page out of another embattled Republican’s book: former Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC).

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}