Infectious Diseases in the Arctic and the Threat of Thawing Permafrost

Tracking diseases using genomics 

Stop the presses! New research shows that viruses locked in the Arctic permafrost for thousands of years have the potential to infect present-day organisms. Accompanied with a warming planet, this issue is really starting to thaw out. So what can brave scientists and institutions on the frontlines of tracking diseases do about it? And how can understanding our genomic history with diseases over thousands of years better prepare us in the fight to overcome them?

Dr. Kaylee Byers starts our journey by slinking into a disease-tracking genomics lab at Simon Fraser University to meet Dr. Michael Trimble and Dr. Will Hsiao to understand the challenge of outpacing the rapid evolution of viruses. Then she pops across the ocean to speak with Dr. Birgitta Evengård and Dr. Jean-Michel Claverie about whether the Pandora's box of ancient diseases frozen in the arctic have the potential to become the next global outbreak as temperatures warm. Plus, we unearth ancient burial sites in Vietnam with Dr. Melandri Vlok, to investigate how climate change exacerbates the tension between human health and pathogens.

Special thanks to Dr. Will Hsiao and Dr. Michael Trimble for allowing us to record with them at Simon Fraser University.

Click here for this episode's Learn-A-Long!

Resources:
1. Infection control in the new age of genomic epidemiology | British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory
2. The permafrost pandemic: could the melting Arctic release a deadly disease | Unearthed
3. Viral spillover risk increases with climate change in High Arctic lake sediments | The Royal Society
4. Healthy ecosystems for human and animal health: Science diplomacy for responsible development in the Arctic | The Nordic Centre of Excellence
5. Understanding and Responding to Global Health Security Risks from Microbial Threats in the Arctic: Proceedings of a Workshop | National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine
6. Next pandemic may come from melting glaciers, new data shows | The Guardian
7. Scientists Revived Ancient 'Zombie Viruses' Frozen For Eons in Siberia | Science Alert
8. A 48,500-year-old virus has been revived from Siberian permafrost | NewScientist
9. Anthrax outbreak in Siberia | euro news
10. CBC News: The National | Russia invades Ukraine | Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC)
11. National Geographic: Explorer Directory, Melandri Vlok | National Geographic
12. Paleoepidemiological Considerations of Mobility and Population Interaction in the Spread of Infectious Diseases in the Prehistoric Past | Bioarchaeology International
13. The Epidemiological Transition: A Theory of the Epidemiology of Population Change | Milbank Memorial Fund
14. Forager and farmer evolutionary adaptations to malaria evidenced by 7000 years of thalassemia in Southeast Asia | nature portfolio
15. CARD 2020: antibiotic resistome surveillance with the comprehensive antibiotic resistance database | Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University

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