TOKYO, Nov 21: Japan, worried about the potential for a biological attack using the smallpox virus, is considering a joint project with the United States to develop vaccines for the disease and is preparing legal steps that would help prevent its spread, government sources said on Wednesday.

Japan has no stockpiles of smallpox vaccine, and is unprepared at present for any epidemics caused by the highly contagious and lethal virus, officials said.

Smallpox was last seen in Japan in 1956, and vaccination ceased in 1977.

Government sources said Japanese officials and politicians had been shocked by a US-made video of a simulation exercise to test the US government’s response to a smallpox virus attack.

The video, “Dark Winter”, was prepared by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think-tank and political risk consultancy.

In the simulation, more than 1,000 people “die” and more than 14,000 are infected by smallpox less than two weeks after 50 patients show signs of an undiagnosed illness in the United States. The simulation ends with no resolution to the “epidemic.”

“Government officials and politicians from the Liberal Democratic Party were shocked and scared to see the video,” a government source said.

The source said the Japanese government and ruling parties were trying to budget for a special project to develop vaccines for smallpox jointly with the United States.—Reuters