Gas explosion tears through Russian laboratory housing smallpox, Ebola and plague virus - The Sun, Thesun.co.uk

A GAS explosion and ensuing fire has ripped through a Russian laboratory where highly infectious viruses are stored.

The State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology has said a cylinder exploded in a lab, which is one of two places in the world to stockpile smallpox. )

The State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology, known as Vector — The State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology, known as VectorCredit: Prospekt / The Siberian Times

A major emergency was declared because of what is stored in the facilityCredit: Rospotrebnadzor / The Siberian Times

In the 20th century smallpox was responsible for between 300-400 million people being killed — In the 20 th century smallpox was responsib le for between 300 – 400 million people being killedCredit: Getty Images

Other highly lethal diseases that are stored there include Bubonic Plague, Anthrax and Ebola.

Located in Koltsovo, in the Novosibirsk region of Siberia, the site called the Vector Institute is thought to be where biological weapons were developed.

Some 13 fire engines and 38 firefighters entered the six-story building minutes as it was realized what the possible implications could be.

Russian media have reported that the “the situation was quickly upgraded from an ordinary emergency to a major incident”.

Following the blast, one worker was left with third degree burns. Further details are unclear.

What is smallpox?

During the 20 th century it was responsible for 300 – 400 million deaths and in 1967 the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that around 15 million people had the disease and two million died in that year.

Fortunately after various vaccination campaigns during the 19 th and 20 th centuries, smallpox was considered to be globally eradicated in 1979 by the WHO.

But, now scientists are concerned thedisease may be making a comebackbecause climate change is rapidly thawing the permafrost where the infected bodies are buried.

During the 1890 s, a major epidemic of smallpox broke out in a small Siberian town near the Kolyma River in Russia.

The disease killed up to 40 per cent of the population and the bodies were buried in soil near the river, but now the water is thawing the banks three times faster than usual and the infected bodies are becoming exposed.

The last person to die from smallpox was a woman named Janet Parker.

The 40 – year-old medical photographer from Birmingham died on September 11, 1978 – exactly one month after she started feeling unwell.

Within days, she developed unsightly red spots on her back, limbs and face, but when a doctor was called, she was told she had chickenpox.

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The plant is one of two places in the world, where the smallpox disease is stored.

The other place is at a high-security laboratory which is called the US center for Disease Control in Atlanta.

The facilities head is said to have denied that any of the diseases kept in the labs have been released into the outside world.

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