Bacteria and viruses in permafrost

2020年2月13日星期四

【明報文章】月前坊間出版了一本書，名叫《生死時刻──對抗氣候災劫的關鍵十年》，由本地天文台前高級科學主任暨科普作家李偉才博士撰寫。書裏，李氏提到全球暖化導致永久凍土融化，大有釋放古老細菌及病毒之虞。我再在網上延伸閱讀，讀到英國廣播公司引述一位進化生物學家的話：「極度寒冷，沒有氧氣，並且無日照的永久凍土是細菌和病毒的儲存庫，古老的永凍層中可能蘊藏着能感染人類或動物的病原體，包括過去曾引起全球流行病的細菌和病毒。」

https://news.mingpao.com/pns/觀點/article/20200213/s00012/1581532212385/李灝麟-穿山甲的願望-從動武變共舞

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.

"Permafrost is a very good preserver of microbes and viruses, because it is cold, there is no oxygen, and it is dark," says evolutionary biologist Jean-Michel Claverie at Aix-Marseille University in France. "Pathogenic viruses that can infect humans or animals might be preserved in old permafrost layers, including some that have caused global epidemics in the past."

In a 2005 study, NASA scientists successfully revived bacteria that had been encased in a frozen pond in Alaska for 32,000 years.

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