A new study led by the University of Ottawa in Canada has found that climate change could bring viruses in the Arctic into contact with novel environments and hosts
According to the experts, the chances of such events increase dramatically with the melting of glaciers, as the meltwater can transport a variety of pathogens to new hosts.
The scientists focused on Lake Hazen, the largest lake located north of the Arctic Circle.
They collected samples from the soil that becomes a riverbed for melted glacier water in the summer, as well as from the lakebed itself, and conducted genetic analyses to look for traces of viral DNA and RNA.
This enabled us to know what viruses are in a given environment, and what potential hosts are also present,”
In order to find out how likely the viruses they found were to spill over into new hosts, the scientists examined the equivalent of each virus’s and host’s family tree.
Basically what we tried to do is measure how similar these trees are,” explained study lead author Audree Lemieux, a research assistant at the same university.
While similar genealogies suggest that a virus has evolved along with a specific host, differences suggest the possibility of spillover.
“It could be anything from ticks to mosquitoes to certain animals, to bacteria and viruses themselves.
It’s really unpredictable… and the effect of spillover itself is very unpredictable, it can range from benign to an actual pandemic,” Lemieux concluded.