According to research presented at the American Society for Microbiology's 109 General Meeting in Philadelphia, Rogers and Z. Koçer, of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, found that influenza viruses can easily survive freezing in pond water, and emerge from the melting ice strong enough to infect bird eggs.
"Rogers calls this evolutionary strategy “genome recycling”. He thinks migrating waterfowl regularly deliver influenza viruses to Arctic glaciers and lakes, where it becomes frozen in ice. When the ice melts, birds pick the virus up and transport it back south where it can reinfect the world."
"Rogers calls this evolutionary strategy “genome recycling”. He thinks migrating waterfowl regularly deliver influenza viruses to Arctic glaciers and lakes, where it becomes frozen in ice. When the ice melts, birds pick the virus up and transport it back south where it can reinfect the world."
