Weakened geomagnetic field, Cosmic rays & the Resurgence of Yellow Fever- Juniper Publishers
Juniper Publishers- Journal of Cell Science
Abstract
The yellow fever outbreak in Brazil poses a
serious public health threat, within Brazil and possibly on a wider
global scale. Research on the environmental factors underlying yellow
fever virus outbreaks may provide useful insights into their occurrence.
The study suggests that a lowering of the geomagnetic field strength
and a consequent sudden increase of cosmic rays in Mexico in 2015 were
associated with the yellow fever outbreak in Brazil. Potential
mechanisms by which weakened geomagnetic field and cosmic ray activity
may influence yellow fever outbreaks as well as other viral epidemic
outbreaks in humans are discussed. We suggest that surveillance
strategies should include an early warning system for tracking the
geomagnetic field and cosmic ray activity.
Short Communication
Whist Brazil is still recovering from the recent
Zika virus outbreak, the south-east of this country has been struck by
the largest outbreak of Yellow Fever (YF) in Latin America many decades.
This outbreak, which began in 2016, has rapidly and alarmingly spread
eastward, reaching the most populated regions of Brazil where vaccine
coverage is inadequate, so raising public health concern about high
rates of urban transmission and the spread of YF beyond Brazil's
national borders. Other viral diseases that appeared to flare up in
South America roughly at the same time include the arboviruses dengue
and chikungunya. Although climate change and poor hygiene are cited as
causes for this sudden resurgence of viral disease, it is possible that a
more fundamental reason exists, and its discovery could have a profound
effect in determining public health strategy.
It is generally known that the Earth's magnetic
field acts like a giant invisible bubble that shields the planet from
the various mutagens such as solar particles, cosmic rays, and also
electrically charged cometary dust particles including virions. Severe
disruption of the magnetic field barrier would permit the ingress of
damaging cosmic ray particles and also charged virus particles from
outside the Earth. In the absence of other plausible causes is to such
externally induced processes that we may be forced to turn in order to
explain the unusual patterns of viral incidence we have witnessed in
recent years.
The role of cosmic rays in causing genetic changes
is well known. It is also known that at times of low sunspot activity
the Earth's magnetic field is less able to protect the Earth from
energetic cosmic rays, including galactic cosmic rays, and charged
macromolecules including virions. One particularly strong effect that
has recently come to light is a decrease in the Earth’s magnetic field
in the Southern Hemisphere, straddling land masses in South America and
Africa. The geomagnetic map shown in Figure 1
was obtained in 2015 at a time when many of the new pandemics of viral
disease which we have discussed actually started sweeping across South
America and Africa. We think this is unlikely to be a coincidence.
New data released by the European Space Agency
(ESA) reveals that our geomagnetic field is weakening by around 5% a
year, which is nearly ten times faster than previous estimates [1].
Furthermore, the field is weakening faster in some places than others.
For example, the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) is a large depression of
the Earth's magnetic field strength characterized by values of
geomagnetic field intensity around 30% lower than expected for those
latitudes and covers a large area in the South Atlantic Ocean and South
America. According to the monitoring data of ESA's Swarm satellite, the
Earth’s magnetic poles may be getting ready to flip, and the South
Atlantic Anomaly where the field is particularly weak has moved steadily
westward and weakened further by about 2% [2].
Previous studies have suggested that the vector
mosquito responsible for these viral diseases is sensitive to the
geomagnetic field, and a weakening of the field can increase the
mosquito's reproductive speed and density [3]. YF is mostly transmitted to humans by bites from infected Aedes spp, especially Aedes aegypti.
The rapid weakening of Earth's magnetic field in the SAA region
probably speeds up the rapid increase of the mosquito population and
thus promotes the rapid spread of the yellow fever virus.
At present, solar activity is at its lowest in the
past 100 years. The sunspot cycle (No.24) that peaked in 2014 showed
the lowest sunspot number recorded since 1906 with many consecutive days
of very low sunspot numbers in 2016/17 [4].
Cosmic rays reach a maximum intensity when the earth’s magnetic field
is weakening dramatically and the sun is least active. According to the
World Data Center for Cosmic Rays (WDCCR), there was a sudden increase
of cosmic rays in Mexico in January 2015 and continued throughout the
year [5] and this was probably the cause of the ZIKV and YF outbreak.
A new study has revealed that solar radiation and
cosmic rays are both physical mutagens promoting natural genetic
mutation/recombination, and the recombination could in our view include
incorporation of charged virions that are admitted due to the weakened
geomagnetic field. This process can lead to the emergence of modified
viruses like those responsible for pandemic influenza [6].
The recent Zika virus outbreak may have been linked to a systematic
increase in the flux of cosmic rays and a general decline of sunspot
activity [7].
Phylogenetic analysis of two yellow fever virus (YFV) samples collected
during the current Brazilian epidemic revealed the 2016/17 epidemic
virus is a new genetic lineage [8]. The weakened magnetic field and enhanced cosmic rays had evidently both contributed to the severe YFV outbreak.
Thus, we make the bold suggestion that a
surveillance of the magnetic field, sunspot numbers and cosmic ray
activity may serve as a potential warning of future pandemics. Together
with other epidemiological factors, such information might prove useful
for strategic disease control planning of YFV as well as other
pandemic-causing viruses.
Competing Interests
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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