As the world gets warmer and the glacier continues to melt, the Arctic could become a "fertile ground" for new viral pandemics, with climate change increasing the danger of next influenza, Ebola, or SARS-CoV-2 arising sooner than later.
As specified in a ScienceAlert report, in this new research, scientists looked at "soil and lake sediment" from Lake Hazen, the largest lake by volume north of the Arctic Circle.
The Arctic Could Soon Unleash The Next Pandemic. Here's Why https://t.co/xTO7QGBZ6K
— ScienceAlert (@ScienceAlert) October 19, 2022
Essentially, by sequencing segments of RNA and DNA found in the soil, the researchers sought to determine the pool of viruses in the environment.
Employing a computer algorithm to contextualize the virus with plant, fungi, and animal hosts in the area, the research team discovered the viral spillover risk.
Specifically, they were able to figure out the ability for viruses to flood into new host species and continue to spread; the COVID-19 virus did by moving from populations of wild animals into humans.
Viral Spillover
In their paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the researchers reported that "spillover risk increases with runoff" from glacier melt, a substitute for climate change.
Specifically, they wrote that should climate change shift species' range of potential viral vectors and reservoirs northwards; the High Arctic could turn out to be ground for rising pandemics.
The study authors compared the evolutionary path of both hosts and viruses, looking for variations and similarities between the two, comparisons suggesting the probability of a change to the status quo, not to mention subsequent viral spillover.
The study investigators also said that from an evolutionary viewpoint, viruses are more susceptible to inspecting hosts that are phylogenetically close to their natural host, perhaps because it is easier for them to infect and colonize species that are genetically similar.
The High Arctic
In line with past research, like the one published in Trends in Parasitology, which demonstrates how degraded landscapes can thrust pathogens, parasites, and hots together in new approaches, the study investigators have suggested increased glacier runoff results in greater chances of viruses that jump over into eukaryote hosts.
The increased spillover risk varied in the soil and lake sediment samples. Moreover, in soil, with high glacial melt flows, the spillover risk increased to a point before dropping, while the risk kept rising in the lake sediment samples.
The study investigators also explained that as the climate changes, the metabolic activity of the microbiosphere of the Arctic shifts as well, which in turn, impacts several ecosystem processes like the emergence of new pathogens.
The High Arctic, or the northernmost region, is a part of the world that's most susceptible to climate change. Over the past few decades, a third of Arctic Oceanwinter ice has vanished.
Increased Risk of Pandemics
Simultaneously, scientists have also warned of a rising risk of pandemics caused by multiple factors-not least human activity that destroys natural habitats and forces animals and people to live increasingly near quarters.
The urgent need to understand the link between change in habitat and proximity to new disease sources underpin this most recent study.
More so, with global warming possibly resulting in species leading further north to retain an environment with the same temperatures, the potential for viruses to jump to new species is growing even further.
Unraveling such risk from actual spillovers and pandemics will be a crucial endeavor in parallel with surveillance activities.
"Disentangling this risk from actual spillovers and pandemics will be a critical endeavor to pursue in parallel with surveillance activities."
Related information about the next pandemic coming from ice is shown on Mr. Scientific's YouTube video below:
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Check out more news and information on the Arctic and the Pandemic in Science Times.
