Why has the smallpox virus not been destroyed?

Answer 1

'Extinct' simply means there are no reported cases of a disease (or sightings of an animal or plant or bacteria, etc) known for a given amount of time -- it does not mean the 'thing' in question is permanently or irretrievably gone. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has arbitrarily set 25 years as the line for declaring a disease extinct. Since there has been no case of smallpox, worldwide, reported in the past 25+ years, it has been declared eradicated (i.e. extinct). However, that said, the small pox virus does still exists in quarantine, in an undisclosed lab someplace in the world. This is necessary for scientific research into combating potential future outbreaks of smallpox (despite their unlikely occurrences) or smallpox-like diseases. Furthermore, with recent advances in genetic engineering, the possibility of someone, one day very soon, having the ability to engineer and sequence the smallpox genome again (or something similar) from common lifeless chemical sources will inevitably make the return of smallpox to humanity possible, despite it being declared extinct right now.

Answer 2

Because the last case of smallpox in the world was during the year of 1977

Answer 3

it has not been destroyed so that we can use it for vaccinations for immunity to it.

Answer 4

Because it is being used to find a better cure for it to make sure it never ever comes back again

Answer 5

Smallpox is no longer a killer disease because people has lost there life and they where people dieing

Answer 6

In order of vaccines to be made, just in case another epidemic occurs.