Over 1,000 Bacteria, Viruses Trapped in Melting Tibetan Glaciers That Could Threaten Surrounding Population Discovered

In Tibet, home to almost 46,000 glaciers, heat gradually releases bacteria, viruses, other microorganisms, and carbon and methane.

Chinese researchers have discovered over 1,000 microbes, viruses, and bacteria entrapped in the glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau, a report from The Informant specified. With global warming, such microorganisms are released, threatening the surrounding populace.

Based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, melting ice is among the biggest threats to Earth.

Consequently, a group of Chinese researchers found more than 960 types of bacteria that live in extreme conditions, specifically freezing temperatures, high solar radiation, and virtually inexistent source.

Bacteria Trapped in Glaciers

In the study published in the Nature Biotechnology journal, researchers investigated if bacteria species trapped in the glaciers of Tibet could make their way to other parts as snow and ice are melting.

Ice samples from 21 glaciers in Tibet were gathered between 2010 and 2016 by researchers, which include those from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who melted them to examine what was left behind.

As a result, the study investigators discovered 968 distinctive bacteria species, of which 98 percent were unknown to science before.

The new findings come almost one year following the discovery of scientists of ancient glaciers, entrapped viruses, some of which aged more than 15,000 years old, on the Tibetan plateau.

Due to Climate Change

Ice sheets and glaciers comprise almost a tenth of the surface cover of Earth, and a growing number of studies have revealed, too, that they are melting because of climate change.

Researchers have suspected some trapped microbes could be infectious to humans, animals, and plants who lack immunity to these older bacteria.

Such microorganisms, a related The Independent report said, may carry novel virulence factors that are making humans, animals, and plants susceptible, wrote the researchers in their study.

Scientists warned that such modern and ancient pathogenic bacteria trapped in glaciers could result in local epidemics and pandemics.

The newly detected microbes in the current study also originated from a specifically essential part of the world, where melting snow and ice feed several rivers resulting in densely populated areas across India and China.

The researchers also said that the Tibetan Plateau, known as the water tower of Asia, is the source of many of the world's largest rivers, including the Yellow River, the Yangtze, Yarlung Tsangpo, or the Brahmaputra River, and the Ganges River.

Worst-Case Scenario

According to a Forbes report, as glaciers worldwide are melting at an alarming rate, the released bacteria could travel with the meltwater into streams and rivers and, as mentioned, reach populated sites infecting humans, animals, and plants.

In the worst-case scenario, meltwater coming from glaciers and ice caps could release into the environment potentially infectious pathogens.

The study investigators have discovered still intact smallpox and the Spanish flu viruses in century-old frozen tissue specimens.

An Anthrax outbreak in Siberia five years back is believed to be the outcome of the pathogen preserved in reindeer carcasses.

Lastly, the bodies thawed out of the ground for several decades during an unusual heatwave, releasing the still contagious anthrax spores.

A report about the 1,000 microbes discovered in melting glaciers is shown on Wonder World's YouTube video below:

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