A Box of Forgotten Smallpox Vials Was Just Found In an FDA Closet

A Box of Forgotten Smallpox Vials Was Just Found In an FDA Closet 120

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday July 08, 2014 @08:12PM from the thanks-for-making-me-feel-safe dept.

Jason Koebler writes: The last remaining strains of smallpox are kept in highly protected government laboratories in Russia and at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. And, apparently, in a dusty cardboard box in an old storage room in Maryland. The CDC said today that government workers had found six freeze-dried vials of the Variola virus, which causes smallpox, in a storage room at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland last week. Each test tube had a label on it that said "variola," which was a tip-off, but the agency did genetic testing to confirm that the viruses were, in fact, smallpox.

A Box of Forgotten Smallpox Vials Was Just Found In an FDA Closet

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And I thought (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday July 08, 2014 @08:16PM (#47411555)

Forgetting my car keys was a big deal....

Re:And I thought (Score:5, Funny)

by mythosaz ( 572040 ) writes: on Tuesday July 08, 2014 @08:29PM (#47411631)

I'm not gay, but twenty bucks is twenty bucks.

Smallpox. Brasil put down. Which is most bad? (Score:0, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday July 08, 2014 @08:32PM (#47411649)

In the wild. And Brasil got its hiney beaten to a pulp. Which is badder?

Re:Um.... (Score:5, Funny)

by fuzzyfuzzyfungus ( 1223518 ) writes: on Tuesday July 08, 2014 @08:47PM (#47411757) Journal

Wasn't the rule of thumb "Take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."?

Re:Ancient Demon Discovered (Score:5, Funny)

by fuzzyfuzzyfungus ( 1223518 ) writes: on Tuesday July 08, 2014 @08:59PM (#47411833) Journal

It's a trifle less dramatic because most ancient evils can resist conventional incineration...

The tales of "Pandora's autoclave" and "Bilbo 'biohazard' Baggins transports some stuff to the nearest incinerator" just haven't caught the public imagination.

Re:And I thought (Score:5, Funny)

by fuzzyfuzzyfungus ( 1223518 ) writes: on Tuesday July 08, 2014 @09:04PM (#47411867) Journal

It didn't exterminate entire civilizations: leaving a pitiful remnant of shell-shocked survivors to envy the dead and wonder why their gods had forsaken them amidst the ruins of their culture is an important part of the smallpox outreach approach!

I always suspected... (Score:4, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday July 08, 2014 @09:27PM (#47411983)

I'm glad smallpox has finally come out of the closet.

But don't worry... (Score:5, Funny)

by Arkh89 ( 2870391 ) writes: on Tuesday July 08, 2014 @09:35PM (#47412039)

Don't worry, the box has already filled a complaint to Google in order to remove all search results related to this story...
And it will gone for good...

Re:Ancient Demon Discovered (Score:4, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Wednesday July 09, 2014 @03:19AM (#47413369)

The tales of (...) "Bilbo 'biohazard' Baggins transports some stuff to the nearest incinerator" just haven't caught the public imagination.
Frodo Baggins, on the other hand...

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A Box of Forgotten Smallpox Vials Was Just Found In an FDA Closet 120

A Box of Forgotten Smallpox Vials Was Just Found In an FDA Closet More Login

A Box of Forgotten Smallpox Vials Was Just Found In an FDA Closet

And I thought (Score:5, Funny)

Re:And I thought (Score:5, Funny)

Smallpox. Brasil put down. Which is most bad? (Score:0, Funny)

Re:Um.... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Ancient Demon Discovered (Score:5, Funny)

Re:And I thought (Score:5, Funny)

I always suspected... (Score:4, Funny)

But don't worry... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Ancient Demon Discovered (Score:4, Funny)

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