U.S. researchers believe a major act of bioterrorism involving release of the smallpox virus could be contained with mass vaccinations.

Advanced computer simulations let epidemiologists unleash virtual plagues in real cities to see which interventions could best quell outbreaks of disease.

Senior scientific advisers to the World Health Organisation (WHO) have recommended the creation of a genetically modified version of the smallpox virus to counter any threat of a bioterrorist attack.

Researchers have made an unexpectedly sudden advance in synthesizing long molecules of DNA, creating concern the technique might be used to create the smallpox virus.

An influential World Health Organization committee has upset some scientists with its recommendation that researchers be permitted to conduct genetic-engineering experiments with the smallpox virus.

The best approach for averting the deadly spread of smallpox following release of the virus by terrorists may rest with the establishment of a major collaborative research effort to develop new antiviral drugs that would involve the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, universities and government agencies, according to a new report from the National Academies.

Scientists at a heavily-guarded installation called Vector, deep in Siberia, are still conducting research on 120 strains of the Smallpox virus in order to study the origins of the virus and its genetic blueprint, and to seek new vaccines and anti-viral agents.

The World Health Organization is meeting to decide how to deal with research on Smallpox "chimeras". These modern concoctions could be valuable for testing vaccines and treatments. But some fear they would set a dangerous precedent that could lead to the creation of new pathogens even worse than smallpox itself.

The author questions the assumptions behind the existing mock scenarios and mathematical models that attempt to predict the magnitude of an outbreake of smallpox.

An analysis of historical smallpox outbreaks suggests that the disease is less contagious than many public health planners fear and is an improbable tool for terrorists, a Scottish university researcher concluded in a recent paper.

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