The FBI and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have launched a probe after the Department of Homeland Security said that several vials labeled as "smallpox" were found at a Merck & Co. vaccine research facility near Philadelphia, USA Today reports.
The Department of Homeland Security said there were 15 "questionable vials" discovered, five of them labeled as “smallpox” and the other 10 as "vaccinia" and that "the vials were immediately secured upon discovery."
The CDC said in a statement "there is no indication that anyone has been exposed to the small number of frozen vials," explaining that the ones labeled "smallpox" were "incidentally discovered by a laboratory worker while cleaning out a freezer in a facility that conducts vaccine research in Pennsylvania. CDC, its administration partners, and law enforcement are investigating the matter and the vials' contents appear intact."
"The laboratory worker who discovered the vials was wearing gloves and a face mask," the statement continued. "We will provide further details as they are available."
Smallpox, a deadly and contagious virus that infected 15 million people a year and killed about 30% of them, was declared eradicated in 1980 after a global vaccination effort by the World Health Organization. Its last known outbreak in the United States was in 1947.
Another similar incident occurred in 2014 when six vials of smallpox were discovered at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, as employees packed up a lab to move it, according to CNN. Two of the vials contained viable virus, but there was no evidence that anyone was exposed.
It is unclear how potential samples in this most recent case made their way into the Philadelphia-area Merck facility, as only two labs in the world are permitted to store samples — one in Russia and the other at the CDC in Atlanta, according to Live Science.
There has been a long-running argument among scientists if remaining samples of smallpox should be destroyed due to their danger or some should be kept in case they are needed to develop new vaccines in response to a fresh outbreak of the virus, according to USA Today.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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