Vials At Suburban Philly Merck Lab Didn't Contain Smallpox: CDC

NORTH WALES, PA — After vials labeled "smallpox" were found at Merck laboratory in suburban Philadelphia, officials said the vials did not contain the smallpox-causing virus.

The vials were found at a Merck lab in North Wales last week by a worker who was cleaning out a freezer.

Five vials found were labeled "smallpox" and 10 were labeled "vaccinia," the CDC said.

Now, the CDC said there is no evidence that the vials contained the variola virus, which causes smallpox.

In fact, the vials labeled "smallpox" contained the vaccinia, the virus used in smallpox vaccine.

According to the CDC, smallpox was a serious infectious disease caused by the variola virus before being eradicated. Smallpox spread from one person to another and people who had smallpox had a fever and a distinctive, progressive skin rash.

Most people with smallpox recovered, but about three out of every 10 people with the disease died. Many smallpox survivors have permanent scars over large areas of their body, especially their faces. Some are left blind.

Smallpox was eradicated through vaccinations, and no cases of naturally occurring smallpox have happened since 1977. The last natural outbreak of smallpox in the United States occurred in 1949.