Warming climate could boost Arctic "virus spillover" risk, research shows

A warming climate could bring viruses in the Arctic into contact with new environments and hosts, increasing the risk of "viral spillover," according to research published Wednesday. Viruses need hosts like humans, animals, plants or fungi to replicate and spread, and occasionally they can jump to a new one that lacks immunity, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scientists in Canada wanted to investigate how climate change might affect spillover risk by examining samples from the Arctic landscape of Lake Hazen.

It is the largest lake in the world entirely north of the Arctic Circle, and "was truly unlike any other place I've been," researcher Graham Colby, now a medical student at University of Toronto, told AFP.