1,500 reindeer dead, 40 humans hospitalized amid anthrax outbreak in Siberia | Emergency Preparedness | Forums

wonder what else could be unearthed through climate change

At least 40 people from nomadic communities in northern Siberia have been hospitalized amid an anthrax outbreak that scientists believe was caused by thawing reindeer carcasses.

Northern Siberia has been hit with a bout of weird weather, including a heatwave that has led to record-high temperatures. In the Yamal tundra, which sits above the Arctic Circle, temperatures soared to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to the average of 77 degrees this time of the year. Scientists have linked the heatwave to climate change.

The warm temperatures caused the region's permafrost — a layer of permanently frozen subsurface soil — to thaw, unleashing the deadly bacteria. Scientists believe the melting unearthed the frozen carcass of a reindeer that died in the last anthrax outbreak in 1968.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week that more than 1,500 reindeer died from anthrax infections in the autonomous Yamalo-Nenets district. Governor Dmitry Kobylkin has declared a state of emergency and evacuated and quarantined the communities most at risk of infection, such as nomadic reindeer herders.

Anna Popova, Russia's chief state sanitary doctor, told CNN that the quarantine may last until September. A mass vaccination of reindeer is also underway.

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