Danes Study Extinct Diseases to Fight Off Future Epidemics

Dreadful diseases that used to kill thousands of people and have become extinct can make today's doctors wiser on contemporary and future infections, providing them with important knowledge.

According to Lars Østergaard, leading surgeon from the Department of Infectious Medicine at Aarhus University Hospital, explained to Danish Radio that doctors use the knowledge of the successfully eradicated diseases in their preparation for the fight against upcoming major epidemics. Østergaard said that the information on the diseases' pathways is of paramount importance for developing a means of prophylaxis in the future.

"Knowledge of how extinct diseases once spread provides us with knowledge on how we fight pathways for new diseases. Being able to fight the spread of a contagion is the best way of avoiding epidemics," Lars Østergaard told Danish Radio.

In fact, diseases that have long been considered long-gone may return amid global warming. According to Lars Østergaard, many microorganisms remain frozen in permafrost, and provided that it melts, the diseases are likely to find their way to Denmark.

"Before, we also used to have malaria in Denmark, because we had a different climate. It's a disease also at risk of returning," Lars Østergaard said.

Fittingly, a recent report by the Arctic Council refueled the perennial fears of global warming, predicting winter temperatures to rise by a solid four degrees over the next three decades. Additionally, the warming was predicted to affect humans and animals alike, unleashing dormant viruses upon the Arctic flora and fauna.

Global warming is known to cause temperatures around the Arctic Circle to rise three times faster than in any other part of the world. In addition to undermining the populations of polar bears, walruses, seals and other animals that rely on ice for survival, the warming is feared to release viruses and bacteria causing deadly infections.

The real threats include anthrax from dead reindeer, which were buried in numerous sites in Siberia, as well as the deadly Spanish Flu, which was found in bodies buried in Alaska.

In 2005, NASA scientists revived bacteria frozen in Alaska's ice for 32,000 years from the Pleistocene period. The bacteria proved to be fully active despite a protracted period of inactivity. In 2007, bacteria buried in Antarctica's ice for 8 million years were successfully revived, which proved that eradicated diseases lack an "expiry date" and can be brought back to life anytime.

In Scandinavia's history, the Black Death, which ravaged Europe in the middle of the 14th century, remains by far the most deadly pandemic, wiping out up to 60 percent of the population.

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