EXCLUSIVE World-leading biologist Anirban Mahapatra wrote a bestseller about Covid and now fears we could be in for a new kind of pandemic – held off only by the rapidly melting ice it’s contained in Rotting corpses and animal carcasses infected with lethal diseases could cause the next global pandemic, a leading scientist has warned.
Fatal illnesses such as anthrax, tetanus, and smallpox can be preserved in Arctic ice sheets for thousands or even millions of years, microbiologist Anirban Mahapatra said.
Historically this has posed little threat to humanity, but as ice sheets melt and glaciers recede at a rapid pace the diseases contained within can infect the living and cause widespread outbreaks.
In fact, they already are.
Five years ago a spate of anthrax cases in Siberia was traced to the 2,300 rotting reindeer carcasses contained in melting Arctic permafrost – or frozen soil.
During a summer heatwave the ice melted, exposing the local population to an unexpected – and terrifying – biological threat.
A 12-year-old boy died of the disease, with hundreds more severely infected in the region’s worst outbreak for 75 years.
Read also: Next global pandemic could be ‘hiding in melting ice’, warns leading biologist
Dr Mahapatra, a researcher at the American Chemical Society, thinks this is just a hint at what’s to come.
He told the Daily Star: “There are viruses that can survive for tens, hundreds, thousands and – theoretically – even millions of years in ice.
“What’s happening is we’re finding a lot of very well-preserved animals, such as mammoths, uncovered by the melting ice.
“If these animals were infected with viruses and bacteria, then they can spread that to other animals and people.”
It doesn’t help that temperatures in the Arctic are rising twice as fast as in the rest of the world, a process known as polar amplification.
Worse still, the toxic permafrost could also carry plagues most people haven’t been exposed to for many years – and are therefore less immune to.
Source: Daily star
