According to Russian media reports, the vaccine research institute of the US pharmaceutical giant Merck Group surprised the "smallpox virus" cryovial.
On the evening of November 16, local time, senior officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security received a warning that 15 suspicious cryovials were found in the laboratory of the Merck Vaccine Research Institute. Among them, 5 bottles had the label "ceiling" and the remaining 10 bottles had the label "cowpox" written on it.
At present, the Merck Vaccine Research Institute laboratory has been blocked, and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also investigating it.
It is worth mentioning that Bill Gates, a well-known American capitalist and founder of Microsoft, has warned that terrorists will try to use smallpox as a biological weapon, and called on governments to provide billions of dollars in research and development funds to set up a new World Health Organization epidemic task force to prevent future epidemics and "bioterrorism".
To support his point, Gates gave an example. "What if a bioterror takes the smallpox virus to 10 airports? Naturally occurring epidemics and bioterrorism-induced epidemics may be even worse than what we are experiencing today. Gates said the risk of bioterrorism is much greater than that of epidemics. Biological developments have made it easy for terrorists to recreate the smallpox virus, a very deadly pathogen that currently has little immunity in the population.
Smallpox is a human infectious disease caused by the smallpox virus. Patients generally develop symptoms similar to the common cold, including fever, muscle pain, and headache within 12 days of infection. After a few days, red spots will develop in the mucous membrane of the oropharynx, and rashes will develop in many parts of the body. Currently, there are no recognized anti-smallpox drugs. Once a confirmed case occurs, healthcare workers will vaccinate the patient to enhance immune protection, sometimes with palliative therapy to increase the efficacy. Smallpox virus does not cause chronic or recurrent infection, but can cause complications or sequelae, such as blindness.
Smallpox plagued humans for at least 3,000 years until May 1980, when the era of smallpox virus coexistence with humans came to an end and the World Health Organization declared smallpox completely eradicated. To this day, smallpox has disappeared for 41 years.
Given the dangers of the smallpox virus, only two laboratories worldwide are currently authorized to store samples of the virus, one in Russia and the other in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Today, the smallpox virus has appeared in Merck Group's vaccine research institute, which makes people think about it.
Edit: ZFJ
Audit: CMY
Proofreader: Chen Dazun