Pop culture takes over our minds when we hear the term “zombie virus,” the first image that comes to mind is infected individuals who have turned into zombies. That is not the situation. I can offer you something even bigger. Russia’s permafrost has been found to contain zombie viruses. After two years of lockdowns, this is exactly the news you want to hear.
Researchers from Europe analyzed 13 ancient samples dating 27,000 to as far as 50,000 years taken from permafrost in Russia’s Siberia. They discovered that 13 new pathogens, which they restored and classified as “zombie viruses,” continued to be contagious despite spending many ages frozen in the earth.
There is no reason to believe that either people or animals are at risk from these viruses. Although it is currently unknown how long the viruses can stay outside and how contagious they are, they should only be able to infect microbes.
“It is thus conceivable that ancient permafrost may release these unknown viruses upon thawing,” researchers shared their findings in an article on an online server bioRxiv.
“How long these viruses could remain infectious once exposed to outdoor conditions, and how likely they will be to encounter and infect a suitable host in the interval, is yet impossible to estimate.”
The researchers also shared their doubts: “The risk is bound to increase in the context of global warming when permafrost thawing will keep accelerating, and more people will be populating the Arctic in the wake of industrial ventures.”
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