Daily Star's biggest headlines straight to your inbox!Rotting corpses and animal carcasses infected with lethal diseases could cause the next global pandemic, a leading scientist has warned.Fatal illnesses such as anthrax, tetanus, and smallpox can be preserved in Arctic ice sheets for thousands or even millions of years, microbiologist Anirban Mahapatra said.Historically this has posed little threat to humanity, but as ice sheets melt and glaciers recede at a rapid pace the diseases contained within can infect the living and cause widespread outbreaks.In fact, they already are.Five years ago a spate of anthrax cases in Siberia was traced to the 2,300 rotting reindeer carcasses contained in melting Arctic permafrost - or frozen soil.During.