Since smallpox was wiped out by a targeted World Health Organization vaccination campaign, there are only two other harsh places on Earth where official virus samples are stored. One of them is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta (Georgia), the other the Vector laboratory in Kolzowo, near the West Siberian city of Novosibirsk.
According to the research institute, this particular laboratory has now undergone a minor explosion with subsequent fire on Monday. A gas cylinder exploded in an examination room on the fifth floor of a six-storey building. Renovations had just taken place in the room, and biological material had not been stored there at the time of the explosion. On a surface of 30 square meters, a fire had spread, but was deleted.
Research is still allowed under certain circumstances
One person was injured, the lab said. The structure of the building remained intact. Several media such as the "Guardian" and "Radio Free Europe" report that the windows of the house were destroyed during the detonation. The injured employee suffered third-degree burns.
In addition to smallpox pathogens in the complex also store other dangerous viruses that can trigger, among other Ebola or hepatitis. In the Kolzowo laboratory, biological weapons were used during Soviet times. This is no longer allowed by the Biological Weapons Convention, which came into force in 1975.
However, research is still permitted to ward off biological attacks, for example by terrorists. For this reason, there are also the samples of the variola virus responsible for smallpox. A use of the pathogen as a biological weapon in an attack would also be particularly dangerous because today only a few people are vaccinated against smallpox. Once the disease has broken out, only the symptoms can be treated.
