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Research shows that as the global climate warms, there is a "spillover risk" for the Arctic virus. Agence France-Presse reported on the 18th that the scientific expedition team sampled in the Lake Hazen area of Canada, which is the largest lake with all water bodies located within the Arctic Circle. The samples collected by the expedition team included the riverbed soil of rivers formed by glacial meltwater, as well as the lakebed soil of Lake Hazen itself. Scientists point out that viruses need a host to replicate and spread, and the host may be humans, animals, plants or fungi. In some cases, viruses may hop between hosts, enabling cross-species transmission.

Affected by global climate change, about 1.5 million square kilometers of sea ice in the Arctic has melted. Source Visual China

　　By analyzing soil samples from the Lake Hazen region, scientists can discover which viruses are present in the environment and potential virus hosts. The analysis found clear differences between the virus and the host in the samples. Scientists pointed out that glacial meltwater will bring the organisms in the top soil in the river channel into Lake Hazen. Climate warming will increase the glacial meltwater, causing the viruses that originally existed in the lake to come into contact with potential hosts that they would not have come into contact with. . In other words, a warming climate will increase the chance of virus transmission, creating a "spillover risk" for the Arctic virus.

　　However, scientists also pointed out that the "spillover risk" of the Arctic virus is a theoretical possibility and does not necessarily cause a global pandemic. How big is the "spill risk"? Uncertainties remain and further research is needed. The above research results have been published in the recently published journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

　　In fact, the scientific community has been wary of the risk of a warming climate causing polar ice and snow to melt, releasing a "sleeping virus". Last year, Russia's "Moscow Times" pointed out that Russia is warming three times faster than the rest of the world. Melting permafrost in Russia's Siberia region may release an unknown virus.

　　In addition, similar risks exist in other alpine regions. According to Taiwan's "Zhongshi News Network", researchers from Ohio State University in the United States published a report in the journal "Microbiome" last year, introducing the research on the ice core samples drilled by the Sino-US joint scientific expedition team from the glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in 2015. Find. The researchers found multiple unknown viruses in two of the glacier samples that had been around for nearly 15,000 years.