<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A northeasterly wind scattered a few milligrams of </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/health/anthrax-facts-and-symptoms/bac75244-1585-416a-8776-219edf8bff2c" rel="" target="" title="anthrax spores"><span>anthrax spores</span></a><span> from a military facility in the Soviet city of </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/lion-cub-smuggled-on-train-runs-wild/034043bb-0ca1-465f-945a-4d6db375f330" rel="" target="" title="Sverdlovsk"><span>Sverdlovsk</span></a><span> on April 2, 1979.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-april-2-what-happened-on-this-day-oscars-streaker/907cefe5-53e5-4314-9c4c-5f0a41520694#8" rel="" target="" title="spores settled over the edge of the city"><span>spores settled over the edge of the city</span></a><span> and nearby villages, killing at least 66 people and likely many more.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Worst affected was a nearby ceramics factory, where a ventilation system sucked in air from the outside.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>LIVE UPDATES: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/us-israel-iran-war-live-updates-april-2-donald-trump-latest-world-news-headlines/042b435f-0673-4c9e-b6a1-c6e0c193210b" rel="" target="" title="Trump threatens to pull US from NATO"><strong><span>Trump threatens to pull US from NATO</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Workers at the factory were directly exposed through the ventilation system, killing at least 18 people.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But the Soviets denied a lab leak, telling the world the deaths were caused by tainted meat.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="" title="US government"><span>US government</span></a><span> was suspicious of the Soviet explanation and publicly accused them of a cover-up.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-april-2-what-happened-on-this-day-sverdlovsk-anthrax-leak/47d399e7-53b8-45c4-b940-f804cb70f76c" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/russia-ukraine-updates-ukrainians-innovating-on-sovietera-weapons-for-a-21st-century-battleground/351d27fe-a27d-4240-830a-299ee97fe74a" rel="" target="" title="The USSR"><span>The USSR</span></a><span> responded angrily to the claims.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The truth was not made public until 1992 by </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/russia-ukraine-sanctions-wont-punish-the-richest-oligarchs/9bc1c5cc-29fe-481e-976c-eb6776def950" rel="" target="" title="President Boris Yeltsin"><span>President Boris Yeltsin</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As head of the Sverdlovsk Communist Party in 1979, Yeltsin had known the truth the whole time.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The leak was later attributed to workers forgetting to replace a filter in an exhaust system.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/anthony-albanese-address-to-the-nation-full-speech-prime-minister-faces-the-nation-with-call-for-calm-but-little-detail/5364105d-db9f-4300-a5a5-a5846581e7d6"><strong><span>Was Albanese's prime-time address really worth all that bother?</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>If the wind had been going in the opposite direction that day, it is estimated hundreds of thousands could have died.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Northern Arizona University geneticist Paul Keim later led a team to map the DNA code.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>His study found the anthrax was developed to be as deadly as possible.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"All of this is highly suggestive of a weapons program that identified a suitable strain, maintained master cell stocks to avoid extensive passage, and performed minimal manipulations in order to maintain virulence," his study said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This strategy must have been used to produce large quantities of highly virulent material, as evidenced by the anthrax deaths in 1979."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/artemis-ii-launch-nasa-astronauts-first-lunar-trip-in-half-a-century/07b8ff09-07b8-4f32-b7de-661e581f1966"><strong><span>NASA readies to launch astronauts on first lunar trip in half a century</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Soviets had long denied conducting experiments into biological weapons.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sverdlovsk is now known as </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/russian-road-bursts-like-a-bubble/f2c7dbf2-ac7b-45fd-9386-b192071255a4" rel="" target="" title="Yekaterinburg"><span>Yekaterinburg</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/health/anthrax-facts-and-symptoms/bac75244-1585-416a-8776-219edf8bff2c" rel="" target="" title="Anthrax is a bacterial disease"><span>Anthrax is a bacterial disease</span></a><span> that occurs sporadically in livestock.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Without treatment, the mortality rate 100 per cent.</span></div></div>