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					<title>Ancient glaciers reveal the roots of antimicrobial resistance</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/ancient-glaciers-reveal-the-roots-of-antimicrobial-resistance/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/ancient-glaciers-reveal-the-roots-of-antimicrobial-resistance/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2026 12:21:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nupur Fangaria]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[antimicrobial resistance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[biology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[environment and health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medicine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[micro-organisms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public health]]></category>
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											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
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											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and Sikkim]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Glaciers, Health impacts, Himalayas, Mountains, and Pandemics]]>
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							<![CDATA[Ancient ice from glaciers and permafrost reveals that antimicrobial resistance is not just fuelled by the overuse of antibiotics. Microorganisms and free DNA, that have been preserved for thousands, even millions, of years, beneath the layers of ancient glacier ice, have been found to carry antimicrobial resistance genes. This suggests that resistance may, in fact, [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Ancient ice from glaciers and permafrost reveals that antimicrobial resistance is not just fuelled by the overuse of antibiotics. Microorganisms and free DNA, that have been preserved for thousands, even millions, of years, beneath the layers of ancient glacier ice, have been found to carry antimicrobial resistance genes. This suggests that resistance may, in fact, be an ancient biological trait. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the resistance microorganisms develop to antibiotics, has been classified as one of the top 10 global public health threats. According to the WHO, antimicrobial resistance accounted for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019. In fact, the United Nations termed it a ‘silent pandemic’ and noted that the leading cause of antimicrobial resistance is the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. However, various studies have unearthed evidence that challenges whether antimicrobial resistance is truly a modern problem. An ancient trait About 20% of the Earth’s surface is covered with ice. This includes the polar ice caps, glaciers in high-altitude regions, and permafrost. The Kabru mountain peak makes up a part of it. Extending south from Kanchenjunga, it is part of the Himalayan range in Sikkim. In 1883, after a mountaineering expedition, the English barrister William Graham described Kabru as &#8220;little more than a pillar of ice&#8221;. Nagendra Thakur, as part of a team of researchers from Sikkim University, extracted and studied 1.5-metre ice cores from the Kabru glacier at different levels. In these samples, collected in 2021, they found a rich, diverse microbial population in the glacier that became&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/ancient-glaciers-reveal-the-roots-of-antimicrobial-resistance/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Human disturbance alters parasite communities, increases infectious disease: study</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/human-disturbance-alters-parasite-communities-increases-infectious-disease-study/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/human-disturbance-alters-parasite-communities-increases-infectious-disease-study/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Oct 2021 12:43:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Divya Khatter]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Birds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zoonoses]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=15913</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas and Environment And Health]]>
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											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and Western Ghats]]>
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											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, COVID-19, Habitat Loss, Health impacts, and Pandemics]]>
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							<![CDATA[Human disturbance affects the disease dynamics of a place through its effect on the prevalence of host and parasite species in the geography, a study finds. The study published in Ecology Letters attributes this to persistence of parasite communities which tend to inhabit multiple host species, thereby increasing the risk of emergence of infectious diseases. [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Human disturbance affects the disease dynamics of a place through its effect on the prevalence of host and parasite species in the geography, a study finds. The study published in Ecology Letters attributes this to persistence of parasite communities which tend to inhabit multiple host species, thereby increasing the risk of emergence of infectious diseases. Anthropocene, the current geological period, is marked by dominant human influence on the environment with climate change, pollution, deforestation, habitat destruction, over-exploitation of resources and ecological degradation ruling the planet. With COVID-19 setting a recent and profound example of the scale of the impact of an infectious disease, direct health-associated impacts have topped the list. An IPBES expert guest article published in 2020 states that pandemics are triggered by activities such as rampant deforestation, uncontrolled expansion of agriculture, intensive farming, infrastructure development etc. that bring increasing numbers of people into direct contact with animals carrying disease-causing pathogens. Biodiversity loss is accelerating at both global and local scales with about one million species threatened with extinction, according to the 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service, backed by United Nations. Extinctions, however, are not random. Some species are extremely vulnerable to extinction while others are not. In free-living species, or species that are not dependent on other organisms for survival, specialists are more sensitive to environmental perturbations than generalists. Specialists are organisms thriving on narrow diversity of resources or habitats, while those that acclimatise to a broad diversity of resources are referred as generalists.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/10/human-disturbance-alters-parasite-communities-increases-infectious-disease-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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