Ancient viruses frozen in Arctic ice can trigger an outbreak of diseases, experts warn.
In the future, humanity may be threatened by an attack by so-called “zombie” viruses. We are talking about “dormant” viruses in the permafrost of the Arctic, which may one day “come to life” as a result of global warming on Earth.
This is stated in the material The Guardian and specifically focuses on frozen viruses in Russian Siberia.
Virologist Marion Koopmans, who works at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, does not rule out the possibility that one of these viruses, once released, could trigger an outbreak of a disease, such as an ancient form of polio.
Geneticist Jean-Michel Claverie, representing the University of Marseille, also warns about the threat that viruses hidden in permafrost can pose to the world. He reported on his experiments in 2014 with viruses found in the Siberian permafrost, which resulted in the discovery that these viruses are still capable of infecting single-celled protozoa. One of these viruses was 48,500 years old.
Despite the fact that this particular virus does not pose a threat to humans, this does not mean that other frozen viruses are not capable of infecting people.
Due to global warming and the increased risk of viruses residing in permafrost, scientists are considering creating an Arctic monitoring network to be able to quickly identify cases of diseases caused by ancient viruses. At the deepest levels of permafrost, viruses up to 1 million years old can lie dormant. That is, these microorganisms are much older than humans, and the human immune system has never encountered such pathogens.
Let us remind you that researchers continue to discuss “disease X” as a potential threat to humanity. We are talking about an abstract, putative pathogen that could trigger an international pandemic, even more dangerous than the COVID-19 pandemic.
Author: Artem Malinovsky
2024-01-21 15:31:33
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