Why do scientists say that climate change will trigger a "devastating" virus outbreak?

Climate change may lead to changes in the distribution of biological resources, and animals are an important medium for spreading viruses; At the same time, climate change has also melted some ancient glaciers, and ancient viruses frozen underground with animal remains may be released again.

Hot and humid places on the earth are usually places where diseases are rampant, such as the jungle areas in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America, which are all in the tropics and rich in plant resources. Therefore, many animals live in the jungle, and many animals carry viruses. Their viruses spread among animals, but the virus particles are small and multiply quickly. In the process of spreading, new viruses will soon be mutated, so it is possible to infect other animals.

Therefore, in these hot and humid environments, the types of viruses are also very rich. Many people in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America are infected because of improper contact with animals, mainly contact with animal body fluids. Of course, it is also related to these poor economic and technological conditions of the earth. People also need to get enough food through hunting.

The climate itself limits the spread of some diseases. Viruses and microorganisms cannot survive in dry air because of their simple structure. The influenza virus will lose its activity after being exposed to dry air for a few minutes. With the change of climate, the area of hot and humid areas may expand, thus causing a wide range of air humidity, which is conducive to the existence of germs in the air for a longer time.

Another important impact of climate change is the change of biological resources. In the process of development, human beings occupy excellent land, feed themselves by planting and breeding, and are relatively isolated from wild animals. Changes in the environment and the distribution of biological resources will also change. Coupled with animal protection factors, the number of some animals will increase, and human beings will invade the areas where human beings live because of lack of food, leading to more contact with wild animals again, which may lead to the spread of certain diseases from animals to humans.

On the other hand, climate change leads to the melting of glaciers and frozen soil, which in itself will lead to many environmental events. In more distant times, permafrost may be forests, grasslands or swamps, and there are many animal and plant resources. The moving environment of the mainland has changed, and the remains of animals and plants have been buried and frozen, and the decomposition in the ground is very slow. After climate warming, the frozen and buried animal and plant debris will decompose rapidly, which will release a lot of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. They are all greenhouse gases. Now some methane in the arctic. Ancient pathogens frozen with animal and plant remains may also be released in climate change.

Mosquitoes are an obvious example. Mosquitoes themselves carry and spread many diseases, causing a large number of deaths in Africa and America every year. Although these worms have a short life span, they have strong reproductive ability. Hundreds of mosquitoes are the result of their continuous differentiation in the process of evolution. However, after the environment warms, the dry and cold areas that were not suitable for mosquitoes will become more humid and hot. Blood-sucking mosquitoes that breed mainly in tropical and subtropical areas will gradually migrate to higher dimensions, exposing more people to the threat of mosquitoes and bringing pathogens that were originally active in hot and humid areas to other areas.

The spread of virus caused by climate change is not a guess, but a fact. Scientists have discovered the spread of some viruses prevalent in seals in Arctic waters, and the spread range is quite large. Now the trend of climate warming has not stopped, and there may be more biological events in the future.