[Smallpox is a dormant volcano].

The presence of rodent-associated natural foci containing at least 6 of the known 11 viruses belonging to the genus Orthopoxvirus (Poxviridae, Chordopoxvirinae) within the equatorial, tropical, subtropical, temperate, and subarctic climatic zones; the increasing aggravation of the monkey pox epidemic situation in equatorial Africa with an increase in human mortality by an average of 9.8% with a possibility of 2 to 8 passages in 30-70% of patients; the possible persistence of a virus in the human cadavers buried in the permafrost of Eurasia and America; bioterrorism threat due to the unaccounted viral reserves persisting somewhere or somebody; no postvaccinal human immunity since vaccination and vaccine manufacture stopped 30 years ago as recommended by the WHO, make the risk of the deteriorating epidemic situation with disastrous effects greater now and in the foreseeable future than it was 20-30 years ago. Health care academic circles and bodies do not know methods for rapid diagnosis in the field conditions of species-specific identification smallpox virus or preventive (low-reactogenic, effective vaccines, and those accessible for mass production) and therapeutic (nontoxic drugs, those satisfactory for mass production, inexpedient, effective ones when orally used) agents. Basic studies of biodiversity, functional properties of viral DNA and proteins, pathogenesis, and evolution are required. Live smallpox virus should be used at certain and particularly final stages for these studies that are of scientific and applied significance.