Long-dormant bacteria and viruses in ice are reviving as climate warms

Re:Long-dormant bacteria and viruses in ice are reviving as ... by zbjornson on Friday May 05, 2017 @04:38PM (#14276660)

Soil-borne anthrax is very common; there's in fact "anthrax season" when (usually small) outbreaks happen among wild and farmed animals, from North America to southern Africa, Russia to China and India. (Search for anthrax on https://www.promedmail.org/, there are 37 reports in 2017 so far.) That a thawed carcass was infected is an interesting anecdote as far as the mode of the transmission, but it isn't surprising. That is, it's not a disease that we've eradicated that is coming back to haunt us.

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Re:Long-dormant bacteria and viruses in ice are reviving as ... by autokad on Saturday May 06, 2017 @12:58AM (#14278748)

yeah that seems like the normal cycle of anthrax, after all its optimized to be frozen and come back.

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Re:Long-dormant bacteria and viruses in ice are reviving as ... by downandout on Saturday May 06, 2017 @01:00AM (#14278759)

Thanks for this. This isn't the first article I've seen that tried to make tenuous connections between climate change (née global warming) and all manner of horrible, immediate effects. The environmentalist crowd gets frustrated that most people consider their cause to be a far off problem that everyone currently living won't have to bear the burden of, and they use articles like this to try to create fear of immediate consequences in order to advance their agenda. I like to read facts, not speculation created by masters of fearmongering.

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Re:Long-dormant bacteria and viruses in ice are reviving as ... by fauigerzigerk on Saturday May 06, 2017 @04:59AM (#14279410)

The article used anthrax as an example for a mechanism that could become more prevalent as more permafrost thaws. This mechanism is neither speculation nor a tenuous connection. It's fact. It is also a fact that global warming makes permafrost thaw.

On the whole, this is not an alarmist article at all. It merely explains some potential risks based on the findings of serious scientists.

Do you have anything to add to the discussion other than pure speculation, fearmongering and conspiracy theories regarding the motivations of the authors and scientists?

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Re:Long-dormant bacteria and viruses in ice are reviving as ... by dwaltrip on Saturday May 06, 2017 @04:45AM (#14279365)

It may be true that this article is overblown, but let's not pretend that the science for climate change and global warming is not rock solid, even if we can't predict the exact extent of the damage.

Russian roulette is a game for fools and those with no hope, not an intelligent species with only one habitable planet.

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Re:Long-dormant bacteria and viruses in ice are reviving as ... by downandout on Saturday May 06, 2017 @04:54AM (#14279401)

> let's not pretend that the science for climate change and global warming is not rock solid

I didn't say it wasn't. I just said that this article is making giant leaps of logic and science to scare people. Even if I agreed with the policy suggestions of the most extreme environmentalists, I would disagree with this tactic. Science is on their side on a great number of issues, but transparent fearmongering like this will only serve to annoy people and ultimately hurt their cause.

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Re:Long-dormant bacteria and viruses in ice are reviving as ... by wwayer on Saturday May 06, 2017 @03:30PM (#14281832)

Here's a thought. Instead of criticizing the article for scaremongering, how about rebutting the points? If you don't believe the permafrost is melting, say why. If you don't believe the planet is warming up, say why. If you don't believe that humans are contributing to the warming, say why. If you don't believe that ancient microbes thawing out is a matter to be concerned about, say why. By offering this sort of discourse, those of us who don't study microbes and infectious disease, for example, can become better informed.

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Re:Long-dormant bacteria and viruses in ice are reviving as ... by downandout on Sunday May 07, 2017 @03:28AM (#14284314)

I was agreeing with the facts in the parent comment, rather than the theory presented in the article.

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Re:Long-dormant bacteria and viruses in ice are reviving as ... by smb06 on Sunday May 07, 2017 @06:00PM (#14287939)

There are research papers linked in the article with experimental findings. That is not "theory".

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Re:Long-dormant bacteria and viruses in ice are reviving as ... by smb06 on Sunday May 07, 2017 @05:54PM (#14287908)

The article links to several research papers. Did you try reading those or do you only read "facts" that align with your world view?

To help you out, here are the researched facts that the article links to:

1) 1918 Spanish flu virus found in corpses buried in Alaska's tundra https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17944266

2) Study on the effects of permafrost melt in East Siberia and the 18th and 19th century deadly infections it might release http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/gha.v4i0.8482

3) Results from a study on the viruses present in the corpses of Stone Age people http://www.istc.int/en/project/84980DF9853EABD94325690B000F3...

4) Frozen bodies found to have contained fragments of DNA of Smallpox virus http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1208124

5) Proof that frozen bacteria from 32,000 years ago can actually be revived http://ijs.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10...

6) Did i say 32,000 years? I meant 8million years http://www.pnas.org/content/104/33/13455

7) Not just bacteria, 30,000 year old viruses can be revived as well http://www.pnas.org/content/111/11/4274

8) Ancient bacteria are resistant to 70% of known antibiotics https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13803

9) Many of the bacteria emerging from melting permafrost may already have antibiotic resistance because natural resistance to antibiotics is so prevalent https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10388.epdf?referrer_ac...

But yes, lets talk about facts.

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