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TOPSHOT – A man is surrounded by dogs while he walks in the main street of the village of Oy, about 70 km south of Yakutsk, with a temperature of air. about 41 ° C on November 27, 2018. (Photo by Mladen ANTONOV / AFP) (The photo credit should correspond to MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP / Getty Images)
Prehistoric diseases sleeping in old ice may soon be unleashed due to climate change.
Cities built on permafrost in Russia are currently experiencing temperatures that could destroy their infrastructure and cause poisoning by coal.
Anthrax is known in some parts of Russia as "Siberian plague".
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This is due to the fact that the anthrax bacteria, which can be naturally present in the soil, has been killing livestock and humans for hundreds of years.
Anthrax and other deadly bacteria that can cause disease can remain dormant in permafrost or ice and will only be released in case of melting.
Permafrost is a thick layer of soil under the ground that has been frozen for more than two years.
Permafrost, which can reach hundreds of meters in depth, is made up of two-thirds of the Russian territory.
A case of anthrax poisoning 70 years ago in the Arctic region of Yamal, Russia, has already been associated with rising temperatures.
This incident resulted in the death of approximately 2,000 reindeer and the hospitalization of 96 people.
A 12-year-old boy also died at the time because he ate venison contaminated with coal.
The experts of the time had concluded that "the appearance of anthrax was stimulated by the activation of" old "sites of infection following a temperature of 1 to 4 days. abnormally high air and melting of sites to a depth exceeding normal levels ".
The old "livestock pits" dug deep in the permafrost could pose a growing risk to life as the temperature rises and the water flowing through these areas carries deadly bacteria to new areas.
The locations of these cattle graves are kept secret, but experts demand close monitoring of the potential spread of bacteria from these graves to human populations and livestock.
Other old diseases such as smallpox and Spanish flu could also be awakened by the warming of the temperature.
Scientists are also worried that the diseases will spread around the world because of the craters of the Serbian permafrost, known as frozen methane bombs, which could explode if they melted.
Biologist Boris Kershengolts told the Telegraph: "If the area of these broadcasts straddled the burial of animals or humans died of disease in previous centuries, these spores and pathogens could spread over a vast area, it would be a disaster not only for the Arctic, the catastrophe could exceed Chernobyl.
This story originally appeared in The Sun.
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