Scientists have analyzed the soil and sediments of the Arctic polar lake and concluded that with melting ice the risk of development and spread of known and ancient viruses increases significantly, writes The Guardian. In addition to the fact that they are freed from the ice, but also get new vectors.
The next pandemic will probably come to us not from bats or birds, but from something that hides in the melting ice, writes The Guardian. Scientists have analyzed soil and sediments of the Arctic polar lake Hazen, which receives water from many glaciers. They identified DNA and RNA of already known viruses in the samples, built an algorithm, and concluded that due to melting ice, the likelihood of viruses gaining access to new hosts is growing.
That is, due to a warming climate, viruses and bacteria previously trapped by ice and permafrost may wake up and infect local life. The author of the article recalls how there was a spike in anthrax in northern Siberia in 2016, presumably because the skeleton of an infected reindeer thawed out.
Meanwhile, there are other studies that show that viruses not yet known to man may lurk in the ice as well. So, a year ago, scientists from the United States found 33 viruses in samples from Tibet, and 28 of them were not known to man. Their age is estimated at 15 thousand years. And in 2014, French scientists were able to revive a virus from the Siberian permafrost, and it became contagious again for the first time in 30,000 years. According to the author of that study, uncovering such ice is “a recipe for disaster.”
Although experts warn: predicting the risk of a pandemic is not the same as predicting a pandemic. As long as the virus and its transient host do not exist in the same place at the same time, the risk of dramatic events is not that great. That said, a warming climate will change the lives of existing animal species. And it is not known whether the virus can change the host it needs.
And while scientists try to reassure that the situation is not critical, they still urge research into the planet’s microbiological world to correctly assess the risks. “Two things are obvious right now. First, the Arctic is warming rapidly, and the main risks to humanity come from its effect on our climate. Second, diseases from other places are entering the vulnerable communities and ecosystems of the Arctic,” The Guardian quotes the scientists as saying.
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