London, UK: Researchers recently examined soil and lake sediment from Lake Hazen in Canada, the biggest lake in terms of volume north of the Arctic Circle.

During their research, the scientists looked for the pool of viruses existing in the environment by sequencing segments of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and Ribonucleic acid (RNA) discovered in the soil.

According to the findings, it is increasingly likely that viruses and bacteria dormant in glaciers and permafrost would reawaken and infect nearby wildlife when global temperatures rise due to climate change, especially if their ranges move closer to the poles.

For example, a heatwave in 2016 that melted permafrost and exposed an infected reindeer carcass was considered as the cause for an anthrax epidemic in northern Siberia that resulted in the death of a child and the infection of at least seven other persons. The previous outbreak in the area occurred in 1941.

The researchers mentioned in their published paper, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, that “Spillover risk increases with runoff from glacier melt, a proxy for climate change, should climate change also shift species range of potential viral vectors and reservoirs northwards, the High Arctic could become fertile ground for emerging pandemics.”

Other recent research, however, contends that unidentified viruses can and do linger in glacier ice. For example, scientists at Ohio State University in the US reported finding genetic material from 33 viruses, 28 of which were unique, in ice samples collected from the Tibetan plateau in China last year. The viruses were estimated to be about 15,000 years old based on their location.

“From an evolutionary standpoint, viruses are more prone to infecting hosts that are phylogenetically close to their natural host, potentially because it is easier for them to infect and colonize species that are genetically similar,” the researchers explain in their paper.

One of the areas of the planet most susceptible to climate change is the High Arctic, or the most northern regions. A third of the Arctic Ocean’s winter ice has vanished over the past two decades.

Moreover, experts are expressing concern about an elevated danger of pandemics brought on by a variety of factors, not the least of which is human activity, and that is destroying natural habitats and forcing people and animals to live in close proximity.

It’s also not clear if the Lake Hazen capacity for host flipping is specific to lake sediments.

“For all we know, it could be the same as the likelihood of host switching posed by viruses from the mud in your local pond,” observed Dr. Arwyn Edwards, the director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Environmental Microbiology at Aberystwyth University, UK.

“We do urgently need to explore the microbial worlds all over our planet to understand these risks in context. Two things are very clear now. Firstly, that the Arctic is warming rapidly and the major risks to humanity are from its influence on our climate. Secondly, that diseases from elsewhere are finding their way into the vulnerable communities and ecosystems of the Arctic,” Dr. Edwards elaborated.

TECH WORLD: US Commerce Department pens deal with Google to develop chips for researchers