[TrappedInLiberalHell]

I would caution anybody from deriving TOO much comfort from this successful containment. There is a fundamental difference between that outbreak and a potential terrorist act. The difference is that the former was accidental. A terrorist act would be deliberate.

Compare the damage done when good-sized airplane crashes from an accident (typically 50 to 250 deaths), to the damage done when that same airplane is smashed into the WTC. (Estimate 1/2 of the approx. 5500 assumed dead = 2750 deaths).

Ten terrorists infected with smallpox could make it their one last goal in life to wander among crowds, coughing, sneezing, spreading mucus on doorknobs, and so forth. That would INITIALLY infect far more than the one 'index' case cited in the article. And some of those so-called 'first-wave' cases will board trains and planes, spreading smallpox from coast to coast, BEFORE THE FIRST CONFIRMED CASE IS EVEN IDENTIFIED.

We must compare apples to apples. Terrorist incidents are not 'unfortunate'. They are not 'tragic'. They are evil, and deliberate.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

An addendum: The scenario described above, with the infected terrorists...may already have happened. That is what is truly chilling. I hope with all my heart that it has not, and that we as a country can quash any further serious terrorist acts in time.