Sverdlovsk anthrax leak
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Spores of anthrax were accidentally released from a military facility in the city of Sverdlovsk (formerly, and now again, Yekaterinburg) on April 2, 1979. The ensuing outbreak of the disease resulted in 94 people becoming infected, 64 of whom died over a period of six weeks. The cause of the outbreak had for years been denied by the Soviet Union, who blamed the deaths on intestinal exposure due to the consumption of tainted meat from the area, and subcutaneous exposure due to butchers handling the tainted meat. All medical records of the victims had been removed, in order to obscure the symptoms consistent with respiratory exposure, and to hide embarrassing inadequacies in Soviet health care.
[edit] Investigation
A number of small investigations launched by Russian scientists in the years immediately following the dissolution of the Soviet Union re-opened the case in a number of newspaper articles. Sparked by this, a team of Western inspectors lead by Professor Matthew Meselson of Harvard finally gained access to the region in 1992, and determined that all of the victims had been living directly downwind at the time of the release of the spores via aerosol. Livestock in the area were also affected. It was revealed around this time that the accident was caused by the non-replacement of a filter on an exhaust at the facility, and though the problem was quickly rectified it was too late to prevent a release. Had the winds been blowing in the direction of the city at that time, it could have resulted in the pathogen being spread to hundreds of thousands of people. The military facility remains closed to inspection. (Professor Meselson's original contention, from many years earlier, had been that the outbreak was a natural one and that the Soviet authorities were not lying when disclaimed having an active offensive bio-warfare program, but the information uncovered in the investigation left no room for doubt.)
