WMO warns wildfire smoke may be undercounting tens of thousands of deaths
Global health and ecosystems are at risk as the WMO warns that escalating wildfires and heatwaves are eroding progress in air quality, calling for coordinated climate and air-pollution policies and enhanced monitoring of PM2.5, ground-level ozone, black carbon, and microplastics. The bulletin also highlights that wildfire-derived PM2.5 can be more toxic and may lead to underestimations of mortality, with hotspots and long-term averages showing troubling trends in places like northwestern Spain, northern Canada, and parts of Africa.
Health · 11 sources · Sep 9, 2026Read itThe journal
Open the journal →The conversation starts in the journal — be the first to post.
About Corticovirus
Merivirus is a genus of viruses that is the sole genus in the family Corticoviridae. Meriviruses are bacteriophages; that is, their natural hosts are bacteria. The genus contains two species. From 1981 to 2024, the genus was named Corticovirus, sharing a name with its family. Prophages closely related to bacteriophage PM2 are abundant in the genomes of aquatic bacteria, suggesting that the ecological importance of meriviruses might be underestimated. Bacteriophage PM2 was first described in 1968 after isolation from seawater sampled from the coast of Chile.
Everything about Corticovirus →