In A Lab Store Room, An Unsettling Surprise: Lost Vials Of Smallpox

NPR | By Geoff Brumfiel

Published July 8, 2014 at 4:40 PM EDT

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health made an unpleasant discovery last week as they cleaned out an old laboratory: The lab contained vials of the smallpox virus, previously unknown to authorities. The vials have since been transferred to a secure lab at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Geoff Brumfiel

Geoff Brumfiel works as a senior editor and correspondent on NPR's science desk. His editing duties include science and space, while his reporting focuses on the intersection of science and national security.

See stories by Geoff Brumfiel

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