Scientists ‘Awaken’ 13 Prehistoric Viruses From The Siberian Permafrost — And Warn That Climate Change Could Rouse More
The "zombie" viruses had been frozen for up to 48,500 years, but some showed signs that they were still infectious.
or millennia, dangerous viruses have lurked beneath the Siberian permafrost. Now, a group of scientists has revived more than a dozen of these viruses from the ice to prove that it’s possible — and to sound the alarm that more prehistoric viruses might emerge as the Earth warms
According to a study conducted by French, Russian, and German scientists and published in bioRxiv — but not yet peer-reviewed — the researchers isolated 13 viruses from seven ancient Siberian permafrost samples. Science Alert explains that these samples were taken from beneath a lake, from the wool of a mammoth, and even from the intestines of a Siberian wolf.
One of these viruses, the Independent reports, had spent an estimated 48,500 years in deep permafrost but still showed signs of being infectious.
The researchers say that this is powerful evidence that viruses trapped in permafrost are not as “rare” as previously thought. They warned that such viruses may pose a public health threat as climate change warms the Earth and melts the planet’s frozen regions like Siberia.
“One quarter of the Northern hemisphere is underlain by permanently frozen ground, referred to as permafrost,” the researchers wrote in their study.
“Due to climate warming, irreversibly thawing permafrost is releasing organic matter frozen for up to a million years…[including] viruses that remained dormant since prehistorical times.”
Though the researchers believe that it is “likely” that ancient permafrost will release viruses from tens of thousands of years ago as the ice melts, a number of unknowns still remain, including the viruses’ ability to survive.
“How long these viruses could remain infectious once exposed to outdoor conditions (UV light, oxygen, heat), and how likely they will be to encounter and infect a suitable host in the interval, is yet impossible to estimate,” the scientists noted in their study.
Noting that the combination of climate change and increased human presence in Siberia could create a perfect storm, the scientists added: “But 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.”
For now, there’s little to be done than to hope that the ice in Siberian melts slowly — and that it doesn’t revive a score of long-dormant viruses.
After reading about the “zombie” viruses that scientists revived from the Siberian permafrost, see how scientists discovered a 50,000-year-old woolly mammoth with its intestines still intact from the Siberian permafrost. Or, take a look at the incredibly well-preserved mummified wolf-dog found in Siberia that died 18,000 years ago.
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