Long-dormant bacteria and viruses, trapped in ice and permafrost for centuries, are reviving as Earth’s climate warms

Throughout history, humans have existed side-by-side with bacteria and viruses. From the bubonic plague to smallpox, we have evolved to resist them, and in response they have developed new ways of infecting us.
We have had antibiotics for almost a century, ever since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. In response, bacteria have responded by evolving antibiotic resistance. The battle is endless: because we spend so much time with pathogens, we sometimes develop a kind of natural stalemate.
However, what would happen if we were suddenly exposed to deadly bacteria and viruses that have been absent for thousands of years, or that we have never met before?
We may be about to find out. Climate change is melting permafrost soils that have been frozen for thousands of years, and as the soils melt they are releasing ancient viruses and bacteria that, having lain dormant, are springing back to life.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up?fbclid=IwAR1uJXYRZBIxVva4iCScy_tvIjngu0WQBdOB-qdNMa0lgbaNafR6cExECjw

Worth reading the article, which gives some interesting examples.

Fortunately, here in Australia we have

• excellent border and infection control, meaning no epidemic will ever pandemic us
• lots of hot, dry bush that isn’t going to melt any time soon, and is ready to go up in flames so it won’t leave any of that crap behind
• flames, that will burn any anthrax or smallpox or coronavirus that dares to even try to fly over our territory

dv said:

Long-dormant bacteria and viruses, trapped in ice and permafrost for centuries, are reviving as Earth’s climate warms

Throughout history, humans have existed side-by-side with bacteria and viruses. From the bubonic plague to smallpox, we have evolved to resist them, and in response they have developed new ways of infecting us.
We have had antibiotics for almost a century, ever since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. In response, bacteria have responded by evolving antibiotic resistance. The battle is endless: because we spend so much time with pathogens, we sometimes develop a kind of natural stalemate.
However, what would happen if we were suddenly exposed to deadly bacteria and viruses that have been absent for thousands of years, or that we have never met before?
We may be about to find out. Climate change is melting permafrost soils that have been frozen for thousands of years, and as the soils melt they are releasing ancient viruses and bacteria that, having lain dormant, are springing back to life.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up?fbclid=IwAR1uJXYRZBIxVva4iCScy_tvIjngu0WQBdOB-qdNMa0lgbaNafR6cExECjw

Worth reading the article, which gives some interesting examples.

Considering that humans encroaching into previous unexplored forests/bush has been the cause of some diseases this could be a real worry

SCIENCE said:

Fortunately, here in Australia we have

• excellent border and infection control, meaning no epidemic will ever pandemic us
• lots of hot, dry bush that isn’t going to melt any time soon, and is ready to go up in flames so it won’t leave any of that crap behind
• flames, that will burn any anthrax or smallpox or coronavirus that dares to even try to fly over our territory
  

We do have anthrax endemic regions in Australia, and outbreaks occur from time to time. Sometimes transmission to humans happens during these outbreaks.

dv said:

Long-dormant bacteria and viruses, trapped in ice and permafrost for centuries, are reviving as Earth’s climate warms

Throughout history, humans have existed side-by-side with bacteria and viruses. From the bubonic plague to smallpox, we have evolved to resist them, and in response they have developed new ways of infecting us.
We have had antibiotics for almost a century, ever since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. In response, bacteria have responded by evolving antibiotic resistance. The battle is endless: because we spend so much time with pathogens, we sometimes develop a kind of natural stalemate.
However, what would happen if we were suddenly exposed to deadly bacteria and viruses that have been absent for thousands of years, or that we have never met before?
We may be about to find out. Climate change is melting permafrost soils that have been frozen for thousands of years, and as the soils melt they are releasing ancient viruses and bacteria that, having lain dormant, are springing back to life.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up?fbclid=IwAR1uJXYRZBIxVva4iCScy_tvIjngu0WQBdOB-qdNMa0lgbaNafR6cExECjw

Worth reading the article, which gives some interesting examples.

Thanks. It was worth reading and is interesting.

4 May 2017
—

I thought I had read it before.

dv said:

Long-dormant bacteria and viruses, trapped in ice and permafrost for centuries, are reviving as Earth’s climate warms

Throughout history, humans have existed side-by-side with bacteria and viruses. From the bubonic plague to smallpox, we have evolved to resist them, and in response they have developed new ways of infecting us.
We have had antibiotics for almost a century, ever since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. In response, bacteria have responded by evolving antibiotic resistance. The battle is endless: because we spend so much time with pathogens, we sometimes develop a kind of natural stalemate.
However, what would happen if we were suddenly exposed to deadly bacteria and viruses that have been absent for thousands of years, or that we have never met before?
We may be about to find out. Climate change is melting permafrost soils that have been frozen for thousands of years, and as the soils melt they are releasing ancient viruses and bacteria that, having lain dormant, are springing back to life.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up?fbclid=IwAR1uJXYRZBIxVva4iCScy_tvIjngu0WQBdOB-qdNMa0lgbaNafR6cExECjw

Worth reading the article, which gives some interesting examples.

We live in interesting times.

Michael V said:

SCIENCE said:

Fortunately, here in Australia we have

• excellent border and infection control, meaning no epidemic will ever pandemic us
• lots of hot, dry bush that isn’t going to melt any time soon, and is ready to go up in flames so it won’t leave any of that crap behind
• flames, that will burn any anthrax or smallpox or coronavirus that dares to even try to fly over our territory
  

We do have anthrax endemic regions in Australia, and outbreaks occur from time to time. Sometimes transmission to humans happens during these outbreaks.

I suppose animals from those regions can spread viruses and put them into the human food chain being remote doesn’t remove all risks of virus transmission. Being aware of less obvious risks is sensible.

This bit is interesting and seems obvious after the fact.

The scientists involved believe that the bacteria, which does not harm humans, is one of many that have naturally evolved resistance to antibiotics. This suggests that antibiotic resistance has been around for millions or even billions of years.

Obviously, such ancient antibiotic resistance cannot have evolved in the clinic as a result of antibiotic use.
The reason for this is that many types of fungi, and even other bacteria, naturally produce antibiotics to gain a competitive advantage over other microbes. That is how Fleming first discovered penicillin: bacteria in a petri dish died after one became contaminated with an antibiotic-excreting mould.

In caves, where there is little food, organisms must be ruthless if they are to survive. Bacteria like Paenibacillus may have had to evolve antibiotic resistance in order to avoid being killed by rival organisms.
This would explain why the bacteria are only resistant to natural antibiotics, which come from bacteria and fungi, and make up about 99.9% of all the antibiotics we use. The bacteria have never come across man-made antibiotics, so do not have a resistance to them.

This is a pretty source of bacteria.