Written by Edris Formuli
There are ancient bacteria and viruses trapped within permafrost - some of which have the potential to cause a pandemic. And global warming isn’t in our favour…
Climate change is real, and global warming is real. When we think about climate change we forget to think about the impact this has on human health. While climate change will indeed have profound impacts on the health of humans globally, the emergence of disease is a particular issue.
Global warming is increasing the melting rate of the permafrost soils which have been frozen for thousands of years. As permafrost melts it releases ancient pathogens into the environment which were once dormant - but now being very much alive.
Permafrost: Frozen soils which are 0 degrees or colder for at least 2 consecutive years, all year round. Interestingly, permafrost can be found on the land or under the ocean. Carcasses of dead animals, or other carriers of disease, remain preserved and dormant.
This is more than just theory. In August of 2016, an Anthrax outbreak occurred in Siberia due to the melting of permafrost that contained Anthrax bacteria. A 12-year-old boy died and at least 20 people were hospitalized in the area where the outbreak occurred.
How did this happen?
The theory is that a reindeer with Anthrax died and was preserved in the permafrost soils for over 75 years. Due to an extreme heatwave, the melting of permafrost exposed this carcass and with it, the release of Anthrax. Over 2000 reindeer’s grazing grass close to this area became infected with Anthrax, as well as a handful of humans in Siberia.
In the early 20th Century alone, more than a million reindeer died from Anthrax.
This is just one example of an outbreak of disease caused by the melting of permafrost. Permafrost covers large regions of the Earth's surface, and scientists believe they are harbouring thousands of different pathogens - and some outbreaks of disease in history were caused by the melting of permafrost soils.
"Permafrost is a very good preserver of microbes and viruses, because it is cold, there is no oxygen, and it is dark," says evolutionary biologist Jean-Michel Claverie at Aix-Marseille University in France. "Pathogenic viruses that can infect humans or animals might be preserved in old permafrost layers, including some that have caused global epidemics in the past."
Global warming has been increasing the melting rate of permafrost soils over the past decade, meaning small outbreaks of disease may be more common.
Are we in danger? Should we be concerned? Jean Michel Claverie, a Bioinformatician, has an answer.
"Following our work and that of others, there is now a non-zero probability that pathogenic microbes could be revived, and infect us," says Claverie. "How likely that is is not known, but it's a possibility. It could be bacteria that are curable with antibiotics, or resistant bacteria, or a virus. If the pathogen hasn't been in contact with humans for a long time, then our immune system would not be prepared. So yes, that could be dangerous."
References
Skelly, F. J. (2017). There are diseases hidden in ice, and they are waking up. BBC Earth.
NASA Climate Kids. (2020). What is permafrost? https://climatekids.nasa.gov/permafrost/
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