The FBI gets a tip terrorists might release smallpox during the vice president's speech at a Baltimore college. The tip is too vague to warn health officials. A college student and electrician come to the emergency room with fever and other flu-like symptoms. Doctors suspect mild illness, maybe flu, and send them home. Both patients are back, sicker and covered in a rash.
Doctors now suspect adult chickenpox.
The two are hospitalized. An infectious disease specialist is puzzled. That rash doesn't really look like chickenpox, and it's popping up in places chickenpox normally doesn't afflict, like the soles of the feet. More testing suggests it might be smallpox. 8 p.m. Because smallpox is spread through the air, officials seal the hospital, telling visitors and staff they can't leave but not why.