World Two labs in the world keep a live smallpox sample. The one in Russia just had an explosion September 17, 2019N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAYComments Off on Two labs in the world keep a live smallpox sample. The one in Russia just had an explosion A gas cylinder exploded in a lab at a Russian biological research center that holds several deadly viruses including smallpox and Ebola.