Russia has sent biological warfare troops to a remote area of Siberia where an anthrax outbreak has caused death and illness, and the threat to the local way of life.  But the enemy isn't some other military or state actor - Global Warming caused this outbreak.

It's going on in the Yamal tundra some 2,000 kilometers northeast of Moscow, where a heatwave has cause the mercury to top 35 C degrees.  This is causing not only the thawing of the permafrost, but also the carcasses of animals that died in outbreaks decades - and the pathogens that killed them. 

A 12-year old boy died of this Siberian Anthrax infection over the weekend.  The boy, identified as "Denis", is the first anthrax fatality in Russia in 75 years.  Nine other patients have been positively identified, although scores more people are said to be at risk and are being monitored by health officials.

"I have no words to express my feelings," regional governor Dmitry Kobylkin told Western journalists, "The infection showed its cunning.  Returning after 75 years, it took away a child's life." 

More than 2,300 reindeer have succumbed to the Siberian Anthrax outbreak, and veterinarians are racing to vaccinate the remaining 200,000 animals in the herd that are since the outbreak began, according to the Siberian Times.  The reindeer are the stuff of life for the local indigenous Nenets people, a semi-nomadic culture that prior to this was mostly worried about Siberian Wolves attacking its herd.

The troops are enforcing a quarantine around the infected area and attempting to evacuate some of the Nenets to safety:  "We have taken all measures to isolate the area," said Governor Kobylkin.  "Now the most important thing is the safety and health of our fellow countrymen - the reindeer herders and specialists involved in the quarantine."

A study from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center - which deals in polar and cryospheric research - warns that melting of the world's permafrosts due to man-made global warming could lead to trillions of dollars in damages.  And scientists have long worried about the viability of anthrax spores after decades of hibernation.  Researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences wrote in 2011 melting permafrost could bring back "the vectors of deadly infections of the 18th and 19th centuries" - "Especially near the cemeteries where the victims of these infections were buried".