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People are worried about a strange new Artic 'zombie viruses,' and scientists are warning about it.
They say that very old viruses, frozen in the Arctic ice for thousands of years, could wake up because of global warming. If they do, we could have big diseases spreading across the world.
Looming threat of Arctic ‘zombie viruses’
Jean-Michel Claverie, a genetics expert from Aix-Marseille University, is leading the research. He says:
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"There are viruses up there with the potential to infect humans and start a new disease outbreak."
For now, scientists study diseases that start in the southern parts of the world and move to the north. They aren't paying much attention to possible diseases that could start in the north and move southwards. That's something we need to think about, Claverie explains.
To deal with that, scientists plan to form a network to monitor the Arctic region. If ancient viruses cause any disease outbreak, they could spot it early and provide medical help. That will stop infected people from leaving the region and spreading the disease.
A closer look into Arctic zombie viruses and their potentials
Marion Koopmans, a virus expert from the Erasmus Medical Center, also worries about the possibility. She says:
“We don't know what viruses are lying out there in the permafrost, but there's a real risk that one might cause a disease outbreak. We have to be prepared for this."
The zombie viruses frozen in Arctic ice are really old, buried there for thousands of years. Claverie's team of scientists had studied some of them in 2014. They found that the viruses were still able to infect single-cell organisms.
"The viruses we isolated posed no risk to humans. But it doesn't mean that other frozen viruses can't cause illnesses in humans," said Claverie.
He also highlighted that scientists found traces of human pathogens like poxviruses and herpesviruses in the permafrost.
Permafrost is really cold and without any air, which can keep things alive for a long time. It covers one-fifth of the Earth's northern half, and some of it has been frozen for thousands of years.
Claverie also explained that the world's permafrost layers are not the same anymore. The ones in Canada, Siberia and Alaska are melting because of climate change. This change could wake up the old viruses in the permafrost.
Also, movements of ships and industrial works in Siberia are increasing because of the melting Arctic ice. Big mining operations could dig into the deep permafrost layers, releasing the zombie viruses. Workers may breathe in these zombie viruses, which could lead to a health disaster.
Koopmans emphasized, "Epidemic outbreaks usually start when there's a change in land use. We could witness a similar thing in the Arctic, which could be dangerous."
The viral threat from permafrost is real and could be very scary. The deepest layers of permafrost might have viruses that are hundreds of thousands of years old, even older than the human species.
The scientists say that we have never have come into contact with these viruses. So, our bodies might not know how to fight them. As Claverie says,
"Although unlikely, the scenario of an old virus infecting a Neanderthal coming back to infect us has become a real possibility."
Thus, scientists think we should be ready for these zombie viruses. The threat is real, and we need to be prepared for it.
