The Earth's climate is changing and the planet continues to warm. Scientists have modeled how this will affect transmission
Link between climate change and virus transmissionanalyzed by an international research team led by scientists from Georgetown University. The results of the work were published on April 28 in the journal Nature.
In their study, the scientists made the first comprehensive assessment of how climate change is restructuring the global mammalian virome.
- The virome is the totality of allviruses found on human mucous membranes (MS) and skin. On the one hand, these are viruses that cause acute, persistent or latent infection, on the other hand, they are united in the human genome. The virome includes both eukaryotic and prokaryotic viruses (bacteriophages). The new study examines the virome of both humans and mammalian animals.
The work focuses on geographic range shifts—global movements of species to new regions in pursuit of their familiar habitat.
The researchers are sure:these shifts open up more opportunities for viruses like Ebola or coronaviruses. They will appear in new areas, making them difficult to track, and in new animal species, making it easier for the pathogens to infect people.
The concern is that habitatsanimals will move disproportionately to overpopulated regions, creating new hotspots for spread risk. Much of this process may already be underway, and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may not stop these developments. According to the report, in 2070, human settlements in equatorial Africa, southern China, India and Southeast Asia will coincide with predicted hotspots of interspecies transmission in wildlife.
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