1978 smallpox outbreak in the United Kingdom

In 1978, a smallpox outbreak in the United Kingdom led to the death of Janet Parker, a British medical photographer. She was the last person recorded to have died from this disease. Parker's illness and death were linked to two additional fatalities, prompting the government to establish the Shooter Inquiry. This official investigation, conducted by a panel of experts, led to significant reforms in the study of dangerous pathogens in the UK. The inquiry was named after its leading member.

The Shooter Inquiry found that Parker was accidentally exposed to a strain of smallpox virus that had been grown in a research laboratory on the floor below her workplace at the University of Birmingham Medical School. Shooter concluded that the mode of transmission was most likely airborne through a poorly maintained service duct between the two floors. However, this assertion has been subsequently challenged, including when the University of Birmingham was acquitted following a prosecution for breach of Health and Safety legislation connected with Parker's death. Several internationally recognised experts produced evidence during the prosecution to show that it was unlikely that Parker was infected by airborne transmission in this way. Although there is general agreement that the source of Parker's infection was the smallpox virus grown at the Medical School laboratory, how Parker contracted the disease remains unknown. Provided by Wikipedia