I'm very alarmed by the fact that the US are pushing for permission to genetically modify the smallpox virus. I cannot see any justification for this whatsoever given that the disease has been eradicated from the population. There's a campaign lobbying for the WHA to refuse this permission - if you want to know more, go to
Yes, the last cases were in 1978, apparently. A photographer caught it in a lab, and then her mother caught it off her. The photographer died, her mother survived, but the photographer's father had a heart attack and died after seeing her in hospital.
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