An explosion at one of the two centers in the world that have repositories of a virus that causes smallpox unnerved health and biosecurity professionals this past September. While it appears that the ...

The lab — also known as Vector — confirmed the explosion in a statement. The explosion led to a fire in an area of about 30 square meters (323 square feet), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and ...

The explosion, at the Vector laboratory in Siberia, left a worker with second and third degree burns. The lab is one of two places in the world which houses the smallpox disease.

Back in 2004, Ebola researcher Antonina Presnyakova died after sticking herself with a needle that carried the virus at Vector. This incident raised “concerns about safety and secrecy ...