A BIOTERROR attack with the smallpox virus could be “CATASTROPHIC” for humanity and wipe out large swathes of the population, researchers have warned.

Terrorists and feuding countries could use genetically modified diseases to attack their enemies, and the consequences would be devastating. A team of researchers have ran simulations on a bioterror attack using smallpox in the Asia Pacific region, and discovered there is no way authorities could act quickly enough to prevent an epidemic. Infectious disease epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) said: “Using mathematical modelling of smallpox transmission, we simulated a worst-case, large scale bioterrorist attack.” READ MORE