Eight ancient zombie viruses spread thanks to… climate change

Some of the world’s leading scientists have gathered to warn of the impact of climate change on unleashing dangerous “zombie viruses” on the modern world.

Many senior Scientists They sounded the alarm after it appeared Eight deadly zombie viruses They’ve reappeared — without us even knowing it.

According to experts from Russia, Germany and France, who have teamed up to write a new study on what happens when the permafrost thaws, many deadly viruses have been found to be released into the countryside, even though they are stuck there in prehistoric times.

Speaking to Live Sciene, Jean-Michel Clavery, a biologist at Aix-Marseille University in France, said: “We don’t have official evidence that viruses can survive for the same amount of time, but there would be no reason why they shouldn’t, because basically all viruses have the same property of being inert particles when they are outside their cells. The risks of zombie viruses will certainly increase in Greenhouse context, where permafrost thaws.

The eight viruses that experts believe now pose a threat to the world are: Pithovirus Sibericum, Mollivirus Sibericum, Pithovirus Mammoth, Pandoravirus Mammoth, Pandoravirus yedoma, Megavirus Mammoth, Pacmanvirus Lupus, and Cedratvirus Lena.

Of these, Pithovirus Sibericum is one of the largest viruses ever found, at 1.5 µm in length. It was found in 2014 and is believed to be around 30,000 years old.

Mr Clavery said: “This is the first time we’ve seen a virus that is still so infectious after such a long period.

“The ease with which these new viruses have been isolated suggests that infectious virus particles are likely to remain abundant.”

“We cannot rule out that viruses remote from humans (or animals) in ancient Siberia could re-emerge when the Arctic ice melted and/or was affected by industrial activities,” said Mr. Clavery.

No case of these viruses has been found in humans yet, but experts are under the impression that the more the permafrost thaws, the higher the chances of this happening.