Can Smallpox Be "Weaponized"

Smallpox is small enough to be inhaled, so it could be spread in an aerosol. The virus is very stable, which means it isn't easy to destroy, and it retains its potency for days outside a human host. According to the New York Times reporters Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg, and William Broad, smallpox can be freeze-dried and stored at room temperature for months or years, and remain potent when revived with water. American scientists in the 1960s were able to turn dried smallpox into a fine powder and to create tiny aerosol generators that could disseminate the virus.

Could Al-Qaeda Or Other Groups Obtain Supplies Of Smallpox?

Smallpox is less readily available than many other agents, such as anthrax or the bacterium that causes plague, and special skills are required to grow the virus in large quantities and to preserve it for dispersion as an aerosol. Thus smallpox would seem an unlikely weapon for small, technically unsophisticated groups of fanatics, bioterrorism experts say- not least because the virus could kill anyone trying to use it. But because it is so dangerous, smallpox may still appeal to ambitious militants.

Which Countries Have Smallpox Stockpiles?

Officially, smallpox remains in only two places in the world: the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia, and a repository in Russia. Reports published in 1998 indicate that Russia grew smallpox in large quantities and successfully adapted it for use in bombs and missiles in the early 1980s. According to Ken Alibek, the former deputy director of the Soviet bioweapons program, the Soviet Union was capable of producing tons of smallpox virus per year, and had one research program that worked to produce more virulent and contagious strains.

Are The Russian Smallpox Stockpiles Safe?

Since many laboratories in Russia are now financially strapped and are downsizing, the United States is worried that underpaid or unemployed Russian scientists and researchers might sell, or have sold, bioweapons expertise or equipment to terrorists or rogue states. U.S. government sources have said they fear that smallpox might wind up in the hands of Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Syria, or Libya, but they have no conclusive evidence to support their concerns.

Does Iraq Have Smallpox Stockpiles?

Iraq has admitted having other biological agents, such as anthrax and botulism toxin, but there is no hard evidence that it has smallpox. According to Rolf Ekeus, the former head of the U.N. weapons inspection team in Iraq, Iraqis have experimented with camel pox, a virus similar to smallpox. Because Saddam Hussein expelled the U.N. weapons monitors in 1998, it is now impossible to know for certain what kinds of weapons he has or is trying to get.

What Would Be Done In The Event Of A Smallpox Outbreak?

According to a CDC response plan unveiled in November 2001, if cases of smallpox were discovered in a major city, federal, state, and local responders would draw a ring around those cases, focusing first on the people victims had had contact with over the previous two weeks. All those people and their families would be vaccinated and possibly quarantined if they were infectious. If that didn't stem the outbreak, officials would vaccinate and quarantine wider circles of people until the epidemic was halted.