NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

The Institute of Medicine was chartered in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to enlist distinguished members of the appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. In this, the Institute acts under both the Academy's 1863 congressional charter responsibility to be an adviser to the federal government and its own initiative in identifying issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.

This study was supported by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The views presented in this report are those of the Institute of Medicine Committee on the Assessment of the Future Need for Variola (Smallpox) Virus and are not necessarily those of the funding agencies.

The complete text of Assessment of Future Scientific Needs for Live Variola Virus is available on line at www.nap.edu.

For more information about the Institute of Medicine, visit the IOM home page at www4.nas.edu/IOM/IOMHome.nsf.

COVER: Bio-Safety Level 4 Containment Laboratory at U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Derrick, Maryland. Copyright Brian R. Wolff / IIPI. All rights reserved.