Lab Leak: Could Smallpox Come Back?
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Pushkin Industries
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2025
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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 that remain today.
For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com.
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| 1:18.1 | A warning before we start. This cautionary tale discusses death by suicide. If you're suffering |
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| 1:37.3 | Funeral director Ron Fleet is driving his van to a hospital in Catherine de Barnes, |
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| 1:48.1 | Catherine de Barnes is tiny, just a few dozen houses and a 19th century pub. |
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