They warn of ‘zombie viruses’ from the Arctic that could cause a new and deadly pandemic

A computer-enhanced image of a Pithovirus sibericum isolated from a 30,000-year-old sample of permafrost in 2014.

A group of scientists warns that viruses that have remained frozen in the Arctic permafrost for thousands of years could be released as a result of global warming, creating the risk of outbreaks of unknown diseases.

Permafrost, which covers a fifth of the surface of the northern hemisphere, is made up of soil that remains at a temperature around zero degrees Celsius for a long period of time, some layers for hundreds of thousands of years, as has been revealed recent research.

“The crucial point about permafrost is that it is cold, dark and lacks oxygen, which is perfect for preserving biological material,” says Jean-Michel Claverie, a scientist at Aix-Marseille University in France. To demonstrate the characteristics of the Arctic soil, he gives the following example: “You could put yogurt in the permafrost and it would possibly still be edible 50,000 years later.”

In recent times it has been observed that the upper layers of permafrost in Canada, Alaska (USA) and Siberia (Russia) are melting due to climate change, which is causing damage to the Arctic. According to estimates, this region is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet.

However, researchers pointed out that there is another threat worse than thawing permafrost. “The danger comes from another impact of global warming: the disappearance of Arctic sea ice,” said Claverie, specifying that this situation is causing increases “in maritime transport, traffic and industrial development in Siberia.”

He also mentioned that future operations planned in the area, including oil and mineral extraction, could expose “large amounts of pathogens that still thrive there.” «The miners will come in and breathe the viruses. The effects could be calamitous,” Claverie noted.

The virologist at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Marion Koopmans, argued that permafrost could contain diseases that our ancestors suffered or viruses so ancient, known as ‘zombie viruses’, that they have never impacted our species. “We have to assume that something like this could happen,” she added.

Containing a possible outbreak must be a priority

On the other hand, Claverie stressed that “little attention has been paid” to a possible “outbreak that could arise in the extreme north” of the Earth, and that could advance south due to “carelessness.” “There are viruses up there that have the potential to infect humans and cause a new outbreak of disease,” she added.

Against this backdrop, researchers propose the establishment of quarantine facilities, so that specialists can timely identify and treat the first cases of a disease caused by some ‘zombie virus’, thus preventing it from spreading to other places. «We now face a tangible threat and we must be prepared to face it. It’s as simple as that,” Claverie said. With RT

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