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Apparently this happened before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox > On July 1, 2014, six sealed glass vials of sm

Apparently this happened before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox > On July 1, 2014, six sealed glass vials of smallpox dated 1954, along with sample vials of other pathogens, were discovered in a cold storage room in an FDA laboratory at the National Institutes of Health location in Bethesda, Maryland. The smallpox vials were subsequently transferred to the custody of the CDC in Atlanta, where virus taken from at least two vials proved viable in culture.[130][131] After studies were conducted, the CDC destroyed the virus under WHO observation on February 24, 2015.[132]

AceJohnny2 5y ago
Tangentially, I've been on an SCP [1] binge lately, and it's interesting to see the cues SCP takes from the real world. Your quote could be taken verbatim from one of their stories. [1] https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com
- bitwize 5y ago
  I'm sure a FOIA request will reveal heavily redacted containment procedures for those vials that look straight out of the Foundation, as well :)
- marcosdumay 5y ago
  Well, SCP would refer to the cultivation media by name.
chasil 5y ago
More than once. "The smallpox virus escaped three times from labs in England in the 1960’s and 1970’s, causing 80 cases and 3 deaths." https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-people-or-nature-open-pandoras-box-at-wuhan/ https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-peop...
- jweir 5y ago
  Then a good deal of the population was vaccinated. The US stopped vaccinating for small pox in, I think, 1972... just before I was born.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
    I was vaccinated. Back then, it was meant to last a lifetime. Not sure that's the case, though.
    - bawolff 5y ago
      Its one of the oldest vaccines. We started giving it in the 1800s and it was eradicated in the 70's. If immunity waned, it would have been noticed back when smallpox was still a thing by people getting smallpox.
      - fieryskiff11 5y ago
        [dead]
  - CapitalistCartr 5y ago
    The military was still vaccinating in '81, when I joined.
    - ericmay 5y ago
      Still vaccinating in select areas. In 2007 deployed to the Republic of Korea and was vaccinated. It sucked and that was just a baby version…
- prox 5y ago
  There was an interesting discussion in r/labrats about hoarding old stuff in labs. Can definitely see it happen.
foo92691 5y ago
Deciding to culture the samples, versus just destroying them without analysis, must be accompanied by an interesting risk/benefit analysis.
- lazide 5y ago
  If you’re trying to decide how big a risk it is that there are other vials out there, definitely. Especially since we’ve stopped wide spread vaccination as it’s considered eradicated. If some gov’t lab deep in Siberia has some samples - how big a problem would i be? actually?
  - killjoywashere 5y ago
    Spritz it on some freshly laundered towels in a 5-star hotel (lots of international travelers) and you have a hot mess fast. Same thing in a Motel 6, you get longer dwell the in the first country before it spreads overseas.
    - lazide 5y ago
      That was the 80’s and 90’s ‘wake up in a cold sweat’ nightmare, when one wasn’t having it about nukes, the Cold War, and MAD anyway. One can hope that anyone with the resources and intelligence to pull that off, would 1) have something better and more useful to do with their lives, and 2) would have someone they care about somewhere and realize it would almost certainly blow back on them too. Definitely not guaranteed, but so far seems to be panning out. Let’s hope it stays that way.
      - jacobr1 5y ago
        The scarier thought is some kind of gene-targeted virus that avoids the blowback
        K0balt 5y ago
        I don’t think that people understand how relatively practical this is, and it wouldn’t even have to be a dramatically or overtly “bad” virus to have very useful economic effects. Just a virus that dramatically increases the chance of cancer, or screws with nuerons low key causing early onset dementia after years, or whatever. The incentives that support this type of research will be (or are) too high to ignore.

AceJohnny2 5y ago

Tangentially, I've been on an SCP [1] binge lately, and it's interesting to see the cues SCP takes from the real world. Your quote could be taken verbatim from one of their stories. [1] https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com

bitwize 5y ago
I'm sure a FOIA request will reveal heavily redacted containment procedures for those vials that look straight out of the Foundation, as well :)
marcosdumay 5y ago
Well, SCP would refer to the cultivation media by name.

chasil 5y ago

More than once. "The smallpox virus escaped three times from labs in England in the 1960’s and 1970’s, causing 80 cases and 3 deaths." https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-people-or-nature-open-pandoras-box-at-wuhan/ https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-peop...

jweir 5y ago
Then a good deal of the population was vaccinated. The US stopped vaccinating for small pox in, I think, 1972... just before I was born.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
  I was vaccinated. Back then, it was meant to last a lifetime. Not sure that's the case, though.
  - bawolff 5y ago
    Its one of the oldest vaccines. We started giving it in the 1800s and it was eradicated in the 70's. If immunity waned, it would have been noticed back when smallpox was still a thing by people getting smallpox.
    - fieryskiff11 5y ago
      [dead]
- CapitalistCartr 5y ago
  The military was still vaccinating in '81, when I joined.
  - ericmay 5y ago
    Still vaccinating in select areas. In 2007 deployed to the Republic of Korea and was vaccinated. It sucked and that was just a baby version…
prox 5y ago
There was an interesting discussion in r/labrats about hoarding old stuff in labs. Can definitely see it happen.

foo92691 5y ago

Deciding to culture the samples, versus just destroying them without analysis, must be accompanied by an interesting risk/benefit analysis.

lazide 5y ago
If you’re trying to decide how big a risk it is that there are other vials out there, definitely. Especially since we’ve stopped wide spread vaccination as it’s considered eradicated. If some gov’t lab deep in Siberia has some samples - how big a problem would i be? actually?
- killjoywashere 5y ago
  Spritz it on some freshly laundered towels in a 5-star hotel (lots of international travelers) and you have a hot mess fast. Same thing in a Motel 6, you get longer dwell the in the first country before it spreads overseas.
  - lazide 5y ago
    That was the 80’s and 90’s ‘wake up in a cold sweat’ nightmare, when one wasn’t having it about nukes, the Cold War, and MAD anyway. One can hope that anyone with the resources and intelligence to pull that off, would 1) have something better and more useful to do with their lives, and 2) would have someone they care about somewhere and realize it would almost certainly blow back on them too. Definitely not guaranteed, but so far seems to be panning out. Let’s hope it stays that way.
    - jacobr1 5y ago
      The scarier thought is some kind of gene-targeted virus that avoids the blowback
      - K0balt 5y ago
        I don’t think that people understand how relatively practical this is, and it wouldn’t even have to be a dramatically or overtly “bad” virus to have very useful economic effects. Just a virus that dramatically increases the chance of cancer, or screws with nuerons low key causing early onset dementia after years, or whatever. The incentives that support this type of research will be (or are) too high to ignore.