The impact of this new crown epidemic on the world is really huge. It not only affects all aspects of society, but also affects the lives and health of many people. The COVID-19 pandemic is still not over, and the virus is still mutating, from delta to Omickron and Omickron's sub-variants. Two new Omickron subtypes are now spreading rapidly in the United States, with the new subtype strains BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 accounting for 16.6% of the total number of new coronavirus variants that are prevalent in the country, almost double the number of last week. These two variants are descendants of the Omickron BA.5 subtype and have spread rapidly in the United States in the past few weeks. , however, is even more worrying about the ancient virus released in the melted permafrost. Scientists warn that melting of Arctic permafrost will release ancient viruses stored inside and may cause the next more severe pandemic.
As the world continues to warm, more and more natural disasters are coming. For example, the mass extinction of plant and animal species, the rise in sea level of and the increase in the number and severity of storms, etc. Now we can add another possible consequence of the Earth’s warming, and that’s a fearful consequence of the resurrection of the long-considered ancient virus.
According to newly published research, climate warming may expose Arctic viruses to new environments and hosts, thereby increasing the risk of "transmitting viruses."
viruses require hosts such as humans, animals, plants or fungi to replicate and spread, and they sometimes transfer to new hosts that lack immunity. By analyzing soil samples from the Heeten Lake area, the scientists found out which viruses exist in the environment and potential virus hosts. According to the analysis, there was a significant difference between the virus and the host in the sample. Glacier meltwater will bring the top soil in the river channel and the organisms into Heiteng Lake, while warming will increase glacier meltwater, causing viruses that originally exist in the lake to contact potential hosts that they would not have been exposed to. In other words, warming increases the chances of virus transmission and causes the "spillover risk" of Arctic viruses.
Can ancient viruses really be resurrected
Climate change is melting the permafrost that has been strong for thousands of years. As the soil melts, they have the potential to release ancient viruses and bacteria that may revive. French and Russian scientists discovered an ancient virus when investigating a 30,000-year-old piece of Siberian permafrost. In a 2014 paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , scientists have discovered a new "megavirus" that they named Pithovirus sibericum. Megaviruses are called megaviruses because they are much larger than traditional viruses. Pithovirus is a known megalovirus genus, which is a double-stranded DNA virus. It was discovered in 2014 and was a specimen found in a 30,000-year-old ice core collected from permafrost in Siberia, Russia. Pithovirus is the largest virus found to date, with a diameter of 1500 nanometers (one billionth of a meter). More importantly, after thawing Pithovirus from its frozen state, scientists found it still contagious.
There are a large number of ancient viruses in the permanently frozen frozen soil. Scientists studying glacier ice found viruses about 15,000 years ago in ice samples from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in my country. Most of these viruses survived by keeping frozen, unlike any virus that has been cataloged to date. The researchers analyzed the ice core of the Gulia ice sheet collected at high altitudes, the top of the Gulia mountain, which originated at 22,000 feet above sea level. The ice core contains ice layers that accumulate year after year, trapping everything in the surrounding atmosphere as each layer freezes. Scientists have discovered 33 viruses' genetic code , some of which have been discovered by the scientific community, but at least 28 are new viruses.
What happens if we suddenly come into contact with deadly bacteria and viruses that have disappeared for thousands of years?
Although Global Warming has not yet revealed ancient viruses that are harmful to humans, the melted permafrost has begun to re-expose the diseases believed to have been eradicated. In August 2016, a 12-year-old boy in northern Russia died after contracting anthrax (anthrax is a serious infectious disease caused by Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria called anthrax ). It is naturally found in the soil and usually affects domestic and wild animals. People are infected with anthrax if they are exposed to infected animals or contaminated animal products. Anthrax can cause serious illness in humans and animals). Anthrax in 2016 also resulted in up to 20 people hospitalized. The anthrax outbreak was blamed on the unusually warm weather in the Arctic Circle. Scientists believe that the carcasses of anthrax-infected reindeer were buried deep in the ice, but the temperature of the Siberian tundra reached 35 degrees Celsius last summer, and the carcasses thawed and released anthrax spores. The epidemic also killed as many as 2,300 reindeer.
Micrograph of Gram staining of Bacillus anthrax
Anthrax may not be the only infectious disease lurking in the ice. In 2004, American researchers successfully recovered the 1918 Spanish flu from fragments of frozen cadaver lungs in the Alaska permafrost. Scientists also found DNA fragments of smallpox in Siberian permafrost. And some of the ancient viruses we have never seen before may be fatal. Because our resistance simply cannot accurately identify these brand new viruses, the virus may enter the human body and reproduce smoothly. Such consequences can be fatal.
In short, no matter what, we should be careful of these unknown ancient viruses. At the same time, we humans should also actively protect the environment, because the global warming caused by man-made has brought huge impacts on people. Just like the extreme high temperatures that have occurred in recent years, and the more abnormal climates. The above is what we have today. I am Huo Zongjun, see you next time. #Omickron 2 new subtypes spread rapidly in the United States #
