the telltale sign of anthrax infection lay in the blood and respiratory tissues of the victims. Anthrax can survive as bacterial spores that can lie dormant for decades. It is thought that these spores were released as the melting permafrost disgorged a long-dead infected deer from the ice. The deer was a victim of the last anthrax outbreak in the region seventy-five years ago. The spores from the newly exposed carcass then entered the water supply, where it later spread to both reindeer and humans. A plague from the past had reemerged in the warming permafrost.
