A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.

Sverdlovsk anthrax leak

1979 accidental release of anthrax in the Soviet Union

On 2 April 1979, spores of Bacillus anthracis were accidentally released from a Soviet Armed Forces research facility in the city of Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union. The ensuing outbreak of the disease resulted in the deaths of at least 68 people, although the exact number of…