A Deadly Ancient Zombie Virus Has Been Revived
Thawing permafrost due to climate change is causing zombie viruses from tens of thousands of years ago to emerge.
Global warming and climate change is making many changes to the fundamental processes within the earth. One of the most destructive results of global warming is the thawing of the arctic circle. But what people do not know is that when it is thawing, it is also releasing a range of different things from thousands of years ago, including zombie viruses. The release of these new viruses could become a danger to animal and human health, as we have built up no immune system to them.
While this may sound like a bad movie, scientists have researched that the possibility of this occurring is rising as the thawing continues. It is not just viruses that they are worried about either; chemical or radioactive waste from hundreds of years ago could also be released, causing untold harm.
This permafrost is expansive and covers around one-fifth of the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. It is a time capsule for a number of animals, humans, waste and germs. In the last number of years, scientists have been able to extract several ancient animals from the ice to study and learn from.
The permafrost is the perfect environment for various items to be encapsulated and stored for thousands of years as it cannot be penetrated by light or oxygen. But as artic temperature is rising quicker than the rest of the earth, the possibility of these zombie viruses entering our world is real.
A sample of the Siberian permafrost has been tested for these zombie viruses, and some were actually found. In 2014, a group of scientists took a zombie virus from the permafrost and made it infectious after 30,000 years.
For safety, they chose a virus that could infect only single-celled amoebas, not animals or humans. At least they have learned something from bad sci-fi films.
This process was repeated in 2015 with another zombie virus and for a third time this year with multiple strains. In this latest research, the scientists isolated several zombie viruses from the Siberian permafrost, and they were also able to infect single-celled amoebas. These new findings survived a seriously long time , with the oldest originating over 48,500 years ago.
Since the zombie viruses can still infect after thousands of years creates a problem for humans, but the scientist’s fear of a mass public threat is going unnoticed. Scientists have seen traces of a considerable number of viruses, so within the permafrost, there is definitely one that could be harmful to animals or humans.
Scientists agree that the way to combat this risk is to be proactive and research, as knowledge is power, but there is no need to overreact or cause mass hysteria over something that may not happen.
While these zombie viruses may be able to infect amoebas on contact, they do not know how these diseases would react in our modern-day world or if they would be able to actually infect animals and humans. It is not an experiment that many scientists would like to run either.
The best solution is to halt the thaw of these regions and regain control of global warming and climate change.
