According to a notice that Yahoo News obtained, the FBI and the CDC opened an investigation after finding several “questionable vials” labeled “smallpox” in a freezer in a laboratory close to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The fifteen mysterious vials were found on Tuesday evening in a Merck laboratory, according to to an unclassified report sent to the Department of Homeland Security. Five of the vials carried the reading “smallpox,” while another 10 were said to contain “vaccine” virus, the source for modern smallpox vaccination.
Reportedly, the vials “Insured immediately,” and the structure was briefly positioned on confinement. While it has since been lifted, federal law enforcement as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have opened investigations.
The CDC is set to take possession of the vials sometimes on Wednesday, according to the alert, that also noted that no Merck personnel were exposed to the materials.
while it remains unclear exactly where the containers were found, Merck runs two main structures in Pennsylvania: one in West Point, its largest pharmaceutical manufacturing site, and another in nearby Upper Gwynedd, a 90-acre campus housing a research laboratory.
Smallpox is a deadly infectious disease caused by the variola virus, which carries a mortality rate of about 30%, according to the FDA, although the agency said some less common forms of the disease are “generally fatal. “ While the last natural case of smallpox was recorded in the 1970s, with the illness in largely eradicated through global vaccination campaigns, two laboratories are still allowed to store samples of the pathogen for research purposes, including one in Russian Siberia and another at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
