(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists conducted a new study and found that the next pandemic will surprise many, because the carriers of the virus will not be birds or bats, but melted glaciers.
After genetic analysis of soil as well as lake sediments sampled in the highest freshwater lake Hazen.
They found out that in those places where glaciers are actively melting, there is a higher risk that the virus will begin to spread.
Glaciers contain a huge number of viruses and bacteria. They may wake up because the average temperature of the planet continues to rise.
In 2016, a heat wave that melted the carcass of an infected reindeer in the permafrost of Siberia caused an outbreak of anthrax.
In order to gain more information about the risks of frozen viruses, Stefan Aris-Brosu and his colleagues conducted a new study.
He sequenced DNA and RNA to identify signatures that matched those of viruses known to science today.
After that, a special algorithm was used to determine how likely these viruses are to infect unrelated organisms.
They demonstrated that the risk of transmission of viruses to new hosts would be higher in places where there is a greater amount of meltwater.
Accordingly, the situation with global warming can cause serious problems on the planet.
Some time ago, it was established that viruses can remain inside glaciers for many millennia. Scientists managed to detect viruses whose age was 15 and 30 thousand years.
Jean-Michel Clavery spoke about the fact that if the ancient glaciers melt, it can lead to a real disaster.
At the same time, if viruses, as well as their “carriers” are absent in the environment, then in this case the probability that events will develop very badly is low.
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