Zombie Viruses Released into World by Climate Change

JAKARTA – Six zombie viruses are being released into the world, due to the influence of climate change. The virus originated in woolly giants, Siberian mummies, prehistoric wolves and the lungs of influenza victims in the Alaskan permafrost.

An international team of researchers from institutions in Russia, Germany and France also warned that the risk that these ancient virus particles could be transmitted could not be underestimated.

“Worse, scientists believe that the risk will inevitably increase in the context of global warming, where permafrost melting will continue to accelerate,” wrote the Daily Mail page, quoted Tuesday (6/6/2023).

The team, which includes experts in genomics, microbiology and geoscience, has been tracking the resurrected zombie virus for nearly a decade.

“In the late 1990s, Swedish pathologist Dr. Johan V. Hultin discovered a cache of 1918 influenza virus RNA in the lung of a woman killed by the virus nearly 80 years earlier,” he explains.

Hultin has been looking deliberately for influenza samples that could help medical researchers better understand how to fight future pandemics.

But its discovery is an early indication of how easily a deadly virus can be conserved in Arctic permafrost.