- Scientists who have studied viruses in Siberian permafrost say that the threat of new viral agents to humanity is significant as the region’s temperatures rise.
- As many as 13 viruses have been discovered in the permafrost.
- While the threat of ‘zombie viruses’ is real, some scientists say there are still many unknowns about how they could affect humans.
As higher temperatures begin to affect Arctic climates, scientists are warning that ancient viruses buried deep in permafrost could pose an unprecedented threat to humans in the form of new pandemics.
A 2023 study by a team that has studied viruses in the Siberian permafrost identified 13 megaviruses that could infect humans; one of them was 48,500 years old. The study results appear in the journal Viruses.
At the forefront of these scientists’ concerns is how contemporary human immune systems would respond to so called “zombie viruses” that are potentially millions of years old.
Given the potential new shipping routes and mining operations that could occur in the Arctic north as ice melts, human exposure to these viruses could create opportunities for infection and global spread.
“While the literature abounds on descriptions of the rich and diverse prokaryotic microbiomes found in permafrost, no additional report about ‘live’ viruses have been published since the two original studies describing pithovirus (in 2014) and mollivirus (in 2015),” the authors of 2023 study write.
“This wrongly suggests that such occurrences are rare and that ‘zombie viruses’ are not a public health threat. “
Prof. Jean-Michel Claverie of Aix-Marseille University, the geneticist who led the 2023 study and has been working to examine viruses in Siberia since 2014, has said that he believes the threat to be understudied and real.
While the viruses they have studied have only shown potential to infect amoebae, it is their view that the danger to human populations needs to be taken seriously.
Dr. William Schaffner, a…
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