Temperatures above 50C used to be a rarity confined to two or three global hotspots, but the World Meteorological Organization noted that at least 10 countries have reported this level of searing heat in the past year: the US, Mexico, Morocco, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Pakistan, India and China.
In Iran, the heat index – a measure that also includes humidity – has come perilously close to 60C, far above the level considered safe for humans.
Heatwaves are now commonplace elsewhere, killing the most vulnerable, worsening inequality and threatening the wellbeing of future generations. Unicef calculates a quarter of the world’s children are already exposed to frequent heatwaves, and this will rise to almost 100% by mid-century.
I can at least alleviate your worries of ancient bacteria.
Even our weakest antibiotics could wipe them out as they have evolved zero resistance to it. That’s assuming they can even infect humans in the first place.
I’m no microbiologist but couldn’t the ancient bacteria hybridize with modern bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance similar to a wolf and dog hybrid having a tolerance to humans?
Horizontal gene transfer is a thing amongst bacteria, so yeah, possibly (except in no way whatsoever like a wolf dog hybrid, entirely different mechanism).
There’s also ancient viruses, which are much more terrifying and probably have a better chance at having been preserved.
That’s not how bacteria multiply. There is horizontal gene-transfer, but that would be a very slim chance.
No ancient bacteria aren’t the problem, multi-resistant strains that have already evolved and are evolving in our clinics are the real problem, some bacteria that haven’t been an issue for quite some time, because our antibiotics simply killed them, have now developed resistances and are suddenly becoming deadly again.
E. Coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella, some of the most prevalent bacteria in humans are rapidly becoming multi-drug-resistant and resistant to desinfectants like chlorine. These superbugs already account for a shockingly high number of deaths in healthcare facilities and the situation is only getting worse as more and more countries use increasing amounts of antimicrobials, kickstarting microbial evolution into overdrive.
Have you ever looked up how long it takes for bacteria to evolve resistance after exposure to an antibiotic?
2-3 years… Yeah…
More concerning is a virus in my opinion. Jumping species is common and it’s the novelty to the immune system thats the danger. How much damage would an influenza strain from 3-4000 years combining with modern strains cause?
If that was all there was to it, no bacteria would be affected by antibiotics anymore. And yes, they’re less effective, but it’s far from an obsolete tool. We just have to be smarter about using them.