Anthrax-Spewing Zombie Deer Are the Least of Your Warming Planet Worries
Diseased carcasses dating to World War II aren’t the only surprises coming our way, courtesy of climate change.
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Climate change is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get. In northern Russia, you get anthrax.
QuickTake Climate ChangeConditions that are melting Arctic permafrost there recently thawed the carcasses of deer felled by anthrax some 75 years ago, when World War II raged. Warmer temperatures then reactivated the infectious disease, which can survive in hibernation for decades. Dozens of people have been hospitalized, half of them children, with eight confirmed cases and one death. Making matters worse, a heatwave combined with the anthrax outbreak may have killed more than 2,300 deer—new ones.