In 1978 the world is on the brink of declaring victory over smallpox. No cases have been seen for months, and it looks like the end for a deadly, painful disease. When a photographer in Birmingham begins to feel ill, doctors are mystified: it looks like smallpox, but how could she have caught it? As they try to contain the outbreak, questions about blame and lab safety erupt in a media frenzy, questions we still have to answer today.
Further reading
The most comprehensive account of the Birmingham lab leak is Mark Pallen’s book The Last Days of Smallpox: Tragedy in Birmingham. We also relied on Jonathan B Tucker’s book Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox, the report of the government enquiry, and coverage in outlets including The Birmingham Mail, The Birmingham Post, the BBC and the London Review of Books.