(Original Caption) 1941: The capillary tubes of smallpox vaccine are here sealed by flames. Sterile needles in glass tubes accompany each vaccination equipment. Smallpox is now fortunately rare in the United States – largely thanks to the prevention and work of health arsenals. By-Line Pictures, for release 7/27/41
(Original caption) Ali Maow Maalin, of Merka, Somalia, who has the last recorded case of smallpox in the world.
(Original caption) The colossal task India. At the end of 1962, India launched the largest national campaign to eradicate smallpox. Huge amounts of freeze-dried smallpox vaccine, the most stable vaccine in tropical conditions, are needed for the mass campaign. The countries producing this vaccine help India to supply, but local production has had to be launched to meet national needs. At the Royal Institute of Preventive Medicine in Madras, with the help of WHO and UNICEF, a freeze-dried smallpox vaccine is prepared from a virus grown on the skin of calves. This photo shows a child struck by smallpox at the Madras Infectious Disease Hospital
(Original Caption) 10/1/1939- Visalia, California: Dr., FH Redwell and Mrs. Clarise Tucker, Nurse of the Department of Infectious Diseases State of public health, immunizing a family of squatters against smallpox and typhoid fever. The back of the break serves as a shelf for medical equipment.
The face of a boy is marked by the marks of smallpox. Afghanistan, ca. 1970. (Photo by Paul Almasy / Corbis / VCG through Getty Images)
Birmingham Smallpox outbreak 1978. Janet Parker a British medical photographer became the last person to die of smallpox. She was accidentally exposed to a strain that was grown in a research lab on the lower floor at the University of Birmingham Medical School. On the picture. Dr. John Makuena (spelling tbc) vaccinated against members of the public, including Bill Clayton (pictured) at the Department of Immunization of the Public Health Department Clinic at Congreve Street, Birmingham, August 25, 1978. (Photo by Birmingham Post and Mail Archive / Mirrorpix / Getty Images) [19659042] HIDE CAPTION
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The Department of Defense recently commissioned a report on the National Academy's biological weapons defense science, engineering and medicine. The report, released in June, said that recreating pathogenic viruses known as smallpox using synthetic biology techniques should be "the biggest concern" for the United States.
"The US government should pay special attention to this" Michael Imperiale, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan and chairman of the committee that drafted the report, said in a statement
Last year, a Canadian researcher studying synthetic biology demonstrated that it was possible to create smallpox-related pox viruses from scratch using genetic material purchased by the community. post
. biochemical knowledge or skills, significant funds or considerable time, "according to a report from the World Health Organization.
Other Dangerous Diseases
Smallpox is far from the only disease that, according to researchers, could lead to a pandemic.
Experts believe that if a flu like the 1918 version were to reappear, it could kill 30 million people within six months. Even more frightening flus are also possible: in ongoing studies in 2014 that resumed last year, scientists have shown how to make the flu virus more deadly. They have also shown that the most lethal viruses can be manipulated to become more infectious.
Experts from the CDC and the World Health Organization keep lists of the diseases most likely to cause a deadly pandemic. These lists include a number of natural pathogens, some of which could be transformed into biological weapons, such as Ebola, Marburg, SARS, anthrax, botulism, plague, tularaemia and smallpox.
Experts also did simulations to see how world would respond to the intentional release of a pandemic disease. The general consensus was that humanity was not doing well.
In May, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security did a simulation demonstrating what could happen if a marginal group were to release a modified Nipah disease. An unrecognized Nipah virus outbreak in India in May sickened at least 18 people and killed 17 infected people.
In the Johns Hopkins simulation, the modified virus killed more than 150 million people in the space of one year
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SEE ALSO: Bill Gates thinks an upcoming illness could kill 30 million people in 6 months – and says we should be getting ready for the war
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