According to US study:
Climate change leads to more infections in polar bears
Climate change is causing their habitat to melt and is apparently also threatening the health of polar bears. A US research team has come to the conclusion that the animals are becoming increasingly infected with pathogens.
The Geological Survey research institute in Anchorage (Alaska) examined blood samples from polar bears for antibodies against six different pathogens. They were looking for the parasite Toxoplasma gondii or the canine distemper virus CDV.
Females more affected
The samples from the polar bear population in the Chukchi Sea, a part of the Arctic Ocean between Alaska and Siberia, were taken from two time periods: from 1987 to 1994 and from 2008 to 2017. Compared to the earlier period, five of the six pathogens occurred more frequently in the blood samples from 2008 onwards. The infection figures for three of the pathogens had even more than doubled. On average, female polar bears were more affected than males.
According to the scientists, global warming in the Arctic is progressing almost four times faster than the global average. The polar bears' habitat, the sea ice, is disappearing at a rapid pace. At the same time, climate change is creating better conditions for viruses, bacteria and parasites. With their study, the researchers wanted to find out to what extent the spread of such pathogens has changed.
Contact with germs does not necessarily mean illness
The results show that polar bears today come into contact with various germs more often than in the past. However, the extent to which the animals actually become ill from these is unclear. "All of the pathogens we have identified can cause disease in wild animals, but understanding the exact effects in wild animals is not easy," the authors write in the journal PLOS One. However, a comparison with brown bear populations in Alaska, among others, suggests that contact with the pathogen has so far not significantly harmed polar bear health.
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