Anthrax in the Arctic

In 2016, the Yamalo-Nenets region of northern Russia experienced a devastating anthrax outbreak, known locally as the ‘Siberian Plague’. Dozens of people were hospitalised, and a 12-year-old boy and his grandmother were killed. Thousands of caribou became infected, prompting an evacuation of indigenous, nomadic people, whose traditional way of life brings them into close contact with caribou.

Many indigenous people of the Arctic rely on caribou for their livelihood, putting them at risk of infection by anthrax

The cause of the outbreak almost seems implausible; a caribou carcass that had been frozen in the ground for 75 years thawed and released deadly anthrax spores. These spores remain viable even after long periods of freezing, meaning that any caribou that are in the vicinity of a thawing carcass are in danger of infection.

The Arctic is warming at a much faster rate than the rest of the world. Unusually high temperatures of 35 °C were experienced in the Yamalo-Nenets region in 2016, causing the permafrost, and therefore the caribou carcass, to thaw. There are concerns that events like this could become a regular event in Siberian summers, even though caribou vaccination programmes are underway.

Adapted from Walsh et al. (2018). 'Current' shows the current suitable range for anthrax. '2050' shows projected future range under RCP4.5.

Others have expressed concerns about what other deadly diseases are being harboured by frozen bodies in the far north, and whether they could threaten human populations today.

"We really don't know what's buried up there," said Birgitta Evengard, a microbiologist at Umea University in Sweden, speaking to NPR. "This is Pandora's box."