How a Soviet Lab Accident Unleashed Deadly Anthrax in 1979

Anthrax spores usually don't hover around the streets, naturally occurring in soil, but hardly in urban areas.

Sverdlovsk had a special status within the Soviet Union , as no foreigners were allowed to enter it.

The Soviets kept their weapons production program Taf secret during the Cold War era, as Westerners were not even allowed to glance at weapons factories, let alone enter them.

Compound 19 was one of two main facilities for producing biological weapons in Soviet Union .

It had special filters attached inside to prevent the exit of pathogens from the laboratory into the open air.

Medical authorities quickly reacted after the official bacteriological confirmation of anthrax was issued on April 11th .

The Chukolovsky district of Sverdlovsk was put into quarantine, with 10s of thousands of district residents aged 18 to 55 years old vaccinated.

The Soviet government had all the prerequisites to cover up the accident and all the causes.

The 1979 Sverdlovsk anthrax epidemic was accidentally caused by military researchers, not by natural causes.

The outbreak was the largest documented outbreak of human inhalation anthrax.