Multiple federal agencies are looking into 15 vials - including five alarmingly labeled as 'smallpox' - that were discovered at a pharmaceutical lab outside of Philadelphia Tuesday night.
The vials, 10 of which were labeled 'vaccinia' after the virus used to make smallpox vaccines, were discovered by a lab worker who was cleaning out a freezer, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Smallpox was eradicated in 1980 with a successful mass vaccination campaign after it killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century alone.
Samples of the deadly virus are only supposed to be kept in two labs: the CDC headquarters in Atlanta and the Vector Institute in Koltsovo, Russia.
The FBI and CDC are now investigating Tuesday's discovery.
Fifteen vials, five labeled 'smallpox,' were discovered at a Pennsylvania lab Tuesday night. Above, a bottle of the smallpox vaccine in 2003
The discovery was reportedly made at Merck's Upper Gwenydd facility outside Philadelphia
The FBI and the CDC are investigating Tuesday's findings. Smallpox is only supposed to be stockpiled in two labs in the world: the CDC in Atlanta and a state-owned lab in Russia
The two agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment from DailyMail.com.
The finding was first reported by Yahoo News, which obtained a copy of an alert sent to the Department of Homeland Security labeled 'For Official Use Only.'
It is not known how the vials ended up at the Merck facility in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania or if they really do contain the virus.
After they were discovered, the vials were secured immediately and the facility was put on a lockdown that was lifted by Wednesday night.
'Merck is in the process of figuring out why it was there,' the source told NBC10 on Wednesday
Merck did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
'There is no indication that anyone has been exposed to the small number of frozen vials,' a CDC spokesperson told Yahoo.
'The frozen vials labeled 'Smallpox' were incidentally discovered by a laboratory worker while cleaning out a freezer in a facility that conducts vaccine research in Pennsylvania.'
The discovery took place at the Merck Upper Gwynedd facility in North Wales, about 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia, according to WCAU.
'CDC, its Administration partners, and law enforcement are investigating the matter, and the vials' contents appear intact. The laboratory worker who discovered the vials was wearing gloves and a face mask. We will provide further details as they are available,' the spokesperson said.
The incident is likely to renew questions about what should be done with the world's Smallpox samples, which are kept in only two labs in the world.
Smallpox is an infection caused by the variola virus. Patients develop a fever and a distinctive, progressive skin rash, according to the CDC.
Most Americans are not vaccinated against the disease and those who are probably have waning immunity, meaning an outbreak could have devastating consequences.
The vaccine leaves a dime-sized lesion that gradually forms a scab and leaves a scar, the CDC says. The lesion is contagious before the scab forms, and those who receive it have to protect the vaccination site from other parts of their body and other people.
In 2014, a government scientist cleaning out an old storage room at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland - just outside of Washington, DC - found six decades-old glass vials containing freeze-dried smallpox, according to the Washington Post.
The samples were packed away and forgotten in a cardboard box. At the time, it was the first such discovery in the country.
In 2019, an explosion at the state-owned Russian lab holding some of the samples sent one worker to the hospital, though the World Health Organization said the blast didn't occur near the stockpiles, according to NPR.
Earlier this month, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates said the US and UK should invest 'tens of billions' in virus research, including how to possibly prevent smallpox attacks from being unleashed in places like airports, according to Yahoo News.
'So along with the climate message and the ongoing fight against diseases of the poor, pandemic preparedness is something I'll be talking about a lot,' he said in an interview with British health policy official Jeremy Hunt.
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