One of the serious dangers of global warming include the release of ancient viruses and bacteria trapped in ice.
If you believe that global warming will only hurt nature, think again. As the global temperatures are constantly rising, ice caps are melting, uncovering a range of deadly bacteria and viruses the human race has not been exposed to in hundreds of years.
Despite our advanced medical technology, how would you fight a disease you don’t already know? In 1928, Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic. It helped save millions of lives, and still saves lives today, but bacteria have grown stronger and developed antibiotic resistance.
As it seems, every time we discover an effective method to combat infections, the infection itself discovers a way to survive.
What does this have to do with global warming you’re wondering. Let me tell you.
Last August, a 12-year-old boy in a remote region of the Siberian tundra died from an anthrax infection, a disease that humanity believed it had contained. Another 22 people were also hospitalized from the same bacteria.
This led researchers to speculate how anthrax might have ended up in the cut-off region of northwestern Siberia. They found what is believed to be the answer in 2,000 dead reindeer, who all fell victim to the merciless anthrax bacteria.
Reindeer herders on the Yamal Peninsula, Siberia, Russia.
It is theorized, that decades ago, maybe even over a century or more, a reindeer infected with the bacteria died and its corpse became trapped in permafrost, a permanently frozen layer of soil.
At such low temperatures, bacteria freezes and bodies don’t decompose. But what happens when they melt?
In the summer of 2016, the area was subjected to heat wave, melting a lot of the permafrost in the region. The trapped reindeer’s body became exposed and released the anthrax into nearby soil and water, eventually infecting other reindeer and subsequently the 23 recorded human cases.
The remains of a mammoth, found by reindeer herders on the Yamal Peninsula after the collapse of the soil in the summer.
Whether you choose to believe in global warming or not, the Earth’s temperature is rising quickly without showing any signs of ever intending to slow down.
More permafrost is melting each year, not just in terms of superficial area, but also in terms of depth, where unknown numbers of trapped bacteria lie in a freezing slumber, just waiting to be released.
We don’t know what lies beneath all that thick ice, but one thing is for sure, we are not ready to face it just yet.
