The melting Arctic is releasing ancient germs – what does this mean for the world?

Dec 14, 2022

Ancient viruses and bacteria are being found in permafrost samples. Image: Pexels/Jean-Christophe André

Paul Hunter

Professor of Medicine, University of East Anglia

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Arctic is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Arctic

A digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph depicts a number of mustard-colored, spheroid-shaped Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.

Other types of pathogen, such as bacteria, could be a problem, though. Image: REUTERS

Discover

What is the World Economic Forum doing to improve healthcare systems?

Have you read?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

More on Arctic
See all

Here's how artificial reefs can help protect seagrass meadows

Cristen Hemingway Jaynes

August 2, 2023

Arctic Ocean could become ice-free by 2030. Why it matters?

Jonathan Bamber

June 8, 2023

Montreal Protocol has slowed loss of Arctic sea ice, say scientists

Ayesha Tandon

June 1, 2023

2:24

Ice Is Melting At Arctic's Northernmost Research Station

The poles are the ‘canaries in the coalmine’ of the climate crisis. Here’s why

Gill Einhorn and Spencer Feingold

April 13, 2023

Arctic sea ice maximum extent is fifth lowest on record

Olivia Rosane

March 21, 2023