Decades-old smallpox samples found in NIH storage room

Government employees discovered vials containing the variola virus in an unused portion of a storage room at an FDA laboratory located on the NIH Bethesda campus, according to the CDC.

The vials appear to date as far back as the 1950s, and were immediately secured in a nearby agent containment laboratory. According to the CDC, there was no evidence that the vials had been breached, and there appears to have been no exposure risk to lab workers or the public.

The laboratory in which the vials were discovered was transferred from the NIH to the FDA in 1972, along with the responsibility for regulating biologic products. The employees discovered the samples while preparing to move to the FDA’s new main campus.

CDC health officials said the vials were transported on July 7 to its high-containment facility in Atlanta with the help of local and federal law enforcement. PCR testing confirmed the presence of variola virus DNA. Additional tests will be conducted to determine if the variola samples are viable. After testing, the samples will be destroyed.

The CDC has notified WHO of the incident. Under international agreement, WHO is responsible for the inspection of two laboratories designated as repositories for variola — the CDC lab in Atlanta and the State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology (VECTOR) in Novosibirsk, Russia.

Health officials are actively investigating the incident to determine how the samples were originally prepared and stored in the FDA laboratory.