Climate change, melting cryosphere and frozen pathogens: Should we worry…?
Permanently frozen environments (glaciers, permafrost) are considered as natural reservoirs of huge amounts of microorganisms, mostly dormant, including human pathogens. Due to global warming, which increases the rate of ice-melting, approximately 4 × 10(21) of these microorganisms are released annu...
Published in: | Environmental Sustainability |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Springer Singapore
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8164958/ https://doi.org/10.1007/s42398-021-00184-8 |
id |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8164958 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8164958 2023-05-15T16:37:30+02:00 Climate change, melting cryosphere and frozen pathogens: Should we worry…? Yarzábal, Luis Andrés Salazar, Lenys M. Buela Batista-García, Ramón Alberto 2021-05-31 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8164958/ https://doi.org/10.1007/s42398-021-00184-8 en eng Springer Singapore http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8164958/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s42398-021-00184-8 © Society for Environmental Sustainability 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. Environmental Sustainability Review Text 2021 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1007/s42398-021-00184-8 2021-06-06T00:45:33Z Permanently frozen environments (glaciers, permafrost) are considered as natural reservoirs of huge amounts of microorganisms, mostly dormant, including human pathogens. Due to global warming, which increases the rate of ice-melting, approximately 4 × 10(21) of these microorganisms are released annually from their frozen confinement and enter natural ecosystems, in close proximity to human settlements. Some years ago, the hypothesis was put forward that this massive release of potentially-pathogenic microbes—many of which disappeared from the face of the Earth thousands and even millions of years ago—could give rise to epidemics. The recent anthrax outbreaks that occurred in Siberia, and the presence of bacterial and viral pathogens in glaciers worldwide, seem to confirm this hypothesis. In that context, the present review summarizes the currently available scientific evidence that allows us to imagine a near future in which epidemic outbreaks, similar to the abovementioned, could occur as a consequence of the resurrection and release of microbes from glaciers and permafrost. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version of this article (10.1007/s42398-021-00184-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Text Ice permafrost Siberia PubMed Central (PMC) Environmental Sustainability |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Review |
spellingShingle |
Review Yarzábal, Luis Andrés Salazar, Lenys M. Buela Batista-García, Ramón Alberto Climate change, melting cryosphere and frozen pathogens: Should we worry…? |
topic_facet |
Review |
description |
Permanently frozen environments (glaciers, permafrost) are considered as natural reservoirs of huge amounts of microorganisms, mostly dormant, including human pathogens. Due to global warming, which increases the rate of ice-melting, approximately 4 × 10(21) of these microorganisms are released annually from their frozen confinement and enter natural ecosystems, in close proximity to human settlements. Some years ago, the hypothesis was put forward that this massive release of potentially-pathogenic microbes—many of which disappeared from the face of the Earth thousands and even millions of years ago—could give rise to epidemics. The recent anthrax outbreaks that occurred in Siberia, and the presence of bacterial and viral pathogens in glaciers worldwide, seem to confirm this hypothesis. In that context, the present review summarizes the currently available scientific evidence that allows us to imagine a near future in which epidemic outbreaks, similar to the abovementioned, could occur as a consequence of the resurrection and release of microbes from glaciers and permafrost. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version of this article (10.1007/s42398-021-00184-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
format |
Text |
author |
Yarzábal, Luis Andrés Salazar, Lenys M. Buela Batista-García, Ramón Alberto |
author_facet |
Yarzábal, Luis Andrés Salazar, Lenys M. Buela Batista-García, Ramón Alberto |
author_sort |
Yarzábal, Luis Andrés |
title |
Climate change, melting cryosphere and frozen pathogens: Should we worry…? |
title_short |
Climate change, melting cryosphere and frozen pathogens: Should we worry…? |
title_full |
Climate change, melting cryosphere and frozen pathogens: Should we worry…? |
title_fullStr |
Climate change, melting cryosphere and frozen pathogens: Should we worry…? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate change, melting cryosphere and frozen pathogens: Should we worry…? |
title_sort |
climate change, melting cryosphere and frozen pathogens: should we worry…? |
publisher |
Springer Singapore |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8164958/ https://doi.org/10.1007/s42398-021-00184-8 |
genre |
Ice permafrost Siberia |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost Siberia |
op_source |
Environmental Sustainability |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8164958/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s42398-021-00184-8 |
op_rights |
© Society for Environmental Sustainability 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42398-021-00184-8 |
container_title |
Environmental Sustainability |
_version_ |
1766027794602524672 |