Oklahoma City. At the White House, the deputy secretary of health and human services confirmed that the only two known sources of smallpox were at the CDC's heavily guarded repository in Atlanta and the Vector laboratory outside Novosibirsk, Russia. Intelligence revealed that a former Vector scientist, an expert in smallpox, had left Russia and was believed to be in Iraq.
             By the next week, tens of thousands of Americans showing symptoms, or imagining them, were overwhelming hospital emergency rooms. Television news repeatedly ran footage of a tearful mother, toddler in arms, pleading for vaccine as a policeman shoved her back into the crowd.
             Meanwhile, chaos swamped those who were trying to manage the crisis. Congress and state legislatures, the FBI and CIA, fire and police departments, the Defense Department and National Guard, public health agencies and private physicians-all lost valuable time and energy in the confusion over procedures and turf.
             By December 15, officials had confirmed 2,000 cases in 15 states, with more in Canada, Mexico, and Britain. The Death toll had hit 300.
             A week later there were 16,000 cases in half the states in the country, and a thousa
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