Risk Assessment: Tools, Techniques, and Their Applications

20.6 Smallpox Example

It is thought to be virtually extinct in the world but can still be found in two isolated laboratories, one in the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, GA, and the other in the Soviet Union. Small pox is caused by the variola virus; the United States embarked on a global campaign to eliminate small pox worldwide. Vaccination against smallpox first occurred in 1796 by Edward Jenner who noticed that milk maids tended to never develop smallpox (6). Through this observation, he was able to utilize the pus from the cowpox blisters as an inoculum and thus rendering the recipient immune to smallpox.

The risk of smallpox as an agent of bioterrorism is relatively slim; however, since the end of the inoculation program against smallpox, there is a greater chance that if released it would cause an epidemic.