• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing January 23, 2023
Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’ January 23, 2023
Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom January 23, 2023
IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia January 23, 2023
BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels January 17, 2023
Next
Prev

Anthrax strikes in rapidly thawing Arctic

August 15, 2016
Reading time: 4 minutes
Primary Author: Kieran Cooke

 

Record high temperatures in Arctic Russia are believed to be one of the main factors behind the emergence of the deadly anthrax disease in northwestern Siberia.

LONDON, 15 August, 2016 – A full-scale medical emergency has broken out in the Yamal region of Siberia, with troops from the Russian army’s special biological warfare unit spearheading efforts to contain an outbreak of anthrax.

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
New!
Subscribe

A 12-year-old boy died after consuming infected venison, other people are believed to have died or become infected with the disease, and thousands of reindeer suspected of carrying it have been killed and incinerated.

One of the main reasons cited for the outbreak of anthrax – one of the world’s most deadly pathogens – is an unprecedented heatwave experienced in the north Siberia region in recent weeks. Temperatures have been between 25°C and 35°C, which is way above the average for the time of year.

Anthrax, an infection caused by the bacterium Bacillum anthracis, can occur naturally in certain soils, with infection usually spread by grazing animals. It has also been developed for use in chemical warfare.

Carcasses exposed

The last recorded outbreak of anthrax in Arctic Russia was in 1941, when several people and thousands of reindeer died. But scientists say it’s likely that the hot weather has caused permafrost in the area to melt, exposing the carcasses of buried animals infected with anthrax 75 years ago.

Another possible source of the outbreak is from the bodies of people who died from anthrax in the 1930s and early 1940s. The nomadic Nenets and Khanty people, who mainly herd reindeer, do not bury their dead in the ground but place bodies in wooden coffins on a hillside.

The theory is that the hot weather has resulted in anthrax spores being released from burial sites and carried elsewhere by the wind.

“The health of both human and wildlife populations
in the Arctic is deeply intertwined, perhaps more so
than in other geographies”

Professor Claire Heffernan, a specialist in infectious diseases at the School of Veterinary Science at the University of Bristol, UK, has previously warned of the impact of changes in climate on disease in animal and human populations in the Arctic region. And she says the present outbreak is likely to be repeated as the warming continues and forgotten burial sites are exposed.

She told Climate News Network: “The health of both human and wildlife populations in the Arctic is deeply intertwined, perhaps more so than in other geographies, It is likely we will see much, much more of this disease as contaminated areas that were once marked are now long forgotten.”

More than 40 people suspected of being infected have been hospitalised. Reports from the area say there are plans to vaccinate more than 40,000 reindeer in an attempt to stop the lethal disease spreading further.

Dmitry Kobylkin, the area’s governor, told the English-language Siberian Times newspaper that the death of a young boy from anthrax came as a shock.

He said: “God knows, we made strenuous efforts from the first day, did everything possible, to save the lives of everyone . . . but the infection was wily, returning 75 years later, and took the child’s life.”

Professor Heffernan says other diseases – in particular, tuberculosis (TB) – are becoming an increasing problem in Arctic communities.

Health threats

Disease is spread not just because of warmer weather conditions but also by changing lifestyles. Previously nomadic communities are moving into settlements, in part due to shrinking ice cover on traditional herding and hunting grounds. In such townships, which often lack proper medical and sanitation facilities, diseases are easily spread.

More synergistic and joined-up disease surveillance systems need to be set up across the Arctic in order to counter health threats, Professor Heffernan warns.

She says: “The unique geo-politics of the eight Arctic nations has the potential to provide the world with an example of how effective bio-security can transcend national boundaries rather than an example of how diseases can do so.”

But increasing temperatures and the thawing of permafrost in Siberia are not only affecting health. It’s believed that large sinkholes appearing in the region in recent years have been caused by explosions as permafrost melts and releases large quantities of methane – a powerful greenhouse gas.

The thawing of permafrost has also led to more fossil-fuel exploration in the region. The Yamal is now a major area of activity for Russia’s oil and gas industry. – Climate News Network



in Climate News Network

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

U.S. Geological Survey/wikimedia commons
Biodiversity & Habitat

Climate Change Amplifies Risk of ‘Insect Apocalypse’

December 1, 2022
42
Alaa Abd El-Fatah/wikimedia commons
COP Conferences

Rights Abuses, Intrusive Conference App Put Egypt Under Spotlight as COP 27 Host

November 14, 2022
26
Western Arctic National Parklands/wikimedia commons
Arctic & Antarctica

Arctic Wildfires Show Approach of New Climate Feedback Loop

January 2, 2023
27

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

RL0919/wikimedia commons

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2k
Weirton, WV by Jon Dawson/flickr

IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia

January 23, 2023
476
Rachel Notley/Facebook

Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom

January 23, 2023
233
@tongbingxue/Twitter

Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’

January 23, 2023
238
EcoAnalytics

Albertans Want a Just Transition, Despite Premier’s Grumbling

January 23, 2023
180
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center/flickr

1.5°C Is Doable. The Barriers Are All Political.

January 16, 2023
360

Recent Posts

Sergio Boscaino/flickr

Dubai Mulls Quitting C40 Cities Over ‘Costly’ Climate Target

January 24, 2023
78
hangela/pixabay

New UK Coal Mine Faces Two Legal Challenges

January 24, 2023
40

Gas Stoves Enter U.S. Climate Culture War, Become ‘Bellwether’ for Industry

January 22, 2023
70
Jeff Hitchcock/flickr.

BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels

January 23, 2023
487

Exxon Had the Right Global Warming Numbers Through Decades of Denial: Study

January 17, 2023
223
willenhallwench / Pixabay

Ontario Greenwashes with ‘Misleading, Illegitimate’ Emission Credits

January 16, 2023
308
Next Post

Rethink needed on Paris emissions targets

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}