19. Accidental Anthrax Release Among Russian Civilians, 1979: 68 Casualties, 300 Wounded
In April 1979, there was a mysterious outbreak of anthrax among civilians in Russia who lived in Sverdlovsk, present-day Ekaterinburg, near a biological weapons facility. An estimated 68 people died, along with countless livestock. Initially, Soviet leaders claimed the outbreak was due to tainted meat.
However, some international scientists had suspicions about the source of the outbreak and believed that, despite the Geneva Protocol, the Soviet Union was engaging in biological and chemical warfare. Those suspicions were confirmed in 1993, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Boris Yeltsin allowed a team of international investigators to look into what had happened.
They found that the military had released anthrax from the biological weapons facility, and all of the people who became infected lived in a straight line, downwind from the factory. The anthrax was released in aerosol form, but the investigation was unable to conclude if the release was accidental or intentional.
