Anthrax Outbreak in Northern Russia Linked to Rising Global Temperatures

Soaring Arctic temperatures have released anthrax long frozen in the Russian tundra, sickening scores of nomadic herders, including 50 children, and killing one 12-year-old boy, according to news reports. More than 2,300 reindeer have also died from the disease, known locally as the “Siberian plague.” Anthrax spores can lie dormant in frozen permafrost, animals, and human remains for hundreds of years, and eventually seep into groundwater during a thaw. The last anthrax outbreak in northern Russian happened 75 years ago, in 1941. Temperatures in the Yamal Peninsula, located 1,200 northeast of Moscow, reached 95 degrees F this past month. “Such anomalous heat is rare for Yamal, and that’s probably a manifestation of climate change,” Alexei Kokorin, head of WWF Russia’s climate and energy program, told The Guardian.