Scientists warn of 'zombie virus' as Arctic permafrost melts

Temperatures rise twice as fast in the Arctic than in other parts of the world, due to climate change

A 48,500-year-old 'zombie virus’ was found buried in a frozen lake in Russia. Photo: Unsplash

“Zombie viruses” as old as 48,500 years could make a comeback as the Arctic permafrost melts due to climate change, scientists have said.

Researcher Jean-Michel Claverie and his team have managed to revive the frozen virus and other strains, including a 27,000 year-old sample taken from the stomach of a woolly mammoth.

It is wrong to suggest that “zombie viruses are not a public health threat”, the Emeritus professor of medicine and genomics at the Aix-Marseille University School of Medicine in Mareille wrote in a report released last month.

Climate change is causing the temperature to warm twice as fast in the Arctic, the report said.

“One of the most visible consequences is the global thawing of permafrost at increasing depths. This rapid permafrost thaw causes mobilisation of ancient organic matter previously preserved for millennia in permafrost deep layers.”

Kimberley Miner, climate scientist at the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, told CNN that it is important to keep the permafrost from thawing, despite the low risks of these viruses being unleashed.

“There’s a lot going on with the permafrost that is of concern, and (it) really shows why it’s super important that we keep as much of the permafrost frozen as possible,” she said.

Permafrost, which makes up 25 per cent of the Northern Hemisphere, is cold and devoid of oxygen. Being underground means light cannot penetrate it and it houses antibiotic-resistant microorganisms.

Mr Claverie's report also says that an anthrax epidemic that has been killing reindeers “has been linked to the deeper thawing of the permafrost active layer at the soil surface during exceptionally hot summers”.

He warned that unlike with bacteria, there isn't a “broad-spectrum” solution to viruses.

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