Worldwide debate over smallpox virus

ATLANTA, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Stocks of smallpox virus held at two facilities, one in Russia and one in Atlanta, are at the center of international debate about their future, experts say.

Dozens of nations are lobbying for the destruction of the smallpox-causing variola virus samples held in a Russian laboratory and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday.

The World Health Assembly could consider the question in May, and if it votes to have the viruses destroyed, the United States and Russia -- which are trying to develop better vaccines to treat the disease in case of an outbreak or bioterrorism attack -- could find themselves in at the center of a political storm.

"If the United States maintains its current position on indefinite retention of the live virus, I can foresee a diplomatic train wreck at the World Health Assembly in May," said Jonathan B. Tucker, author of "Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox."

An intensive worldwide vaccination campaign begun in 1967 eradicated smallpox, with the last known case reported in Somalia in 1977.

Most countries voluntarily destroyed or handed over their variola virus reserves in the late 1970s, but Russian and U.S. scientists have for decades insisted on retaining their stocks, citing the need for further research.

"More work has to be done on the vaccine," CDC spokesman David Daigle said. "We want to make a better vaccine without side effects, and we have much more work to be done [with developing] antivirals."