The recent revelations that Soviet-era scientists might have passed on a genetically modified strain of the smallpox virus to Iraq probably surprised everyone.

Scott Gottlieb, M.D., reviews Michael Willrich's "Pox:An American History". The book chronicles the story of how the smallpox vaccine was pressed into service through governmental intrusion during the historical epidemic of 1898-1903.

US government foreign assistance health programs are currently focused on combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, which account for several million deaths each year across Africa. The United States should prioritize sustaining the hard-won gains in disease control, which requires focusing on programs with proven track records of success and addressing failures within those programs.

Scott Gottlieb reviews The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story, by Richard Preston.

If terrorists exposed your hometown to a deadly virus, which would you want: a vaccine that prevents infection or a drug that effectively treats it after a person has become ill?

Compilation of public opinion on Wall Street, black leaders, trust in government, the 2008 race for president, and smallpox vaccinations.

America's "underclass," that formless entity that baffles social workers and politicians, is the country's continual cloud on the horizon, welfare experts said Wednesday.

While the world stands transfixed by the specter of a pandemic flu, a very different threat, bioterrorism, remains largely unaddressed.