How ‘zombie’ viruses in Siberia could trigger the next deadly pandemic

What could be the next pandemic? And will the world be prepared to handle it? The questions continue to haunt us. Shockingly, you and I could be responsible for the next deadly disease that could plague mankind.

Scientists have warned of a bizarre new pandemic threat. It could be caused by the unleashing of zombie viruses. Frozen in the Arctic permafrost, these ancient viruses could be released by the warming climate of the planet, leading to a major disease outbreak.

What are zombie viruses?

It is not a new illness but one from the past. Methuselah microbes, also called zombie viruses, have been trapped in the permafrost in Siberia for tens and thousands of years.

Last year, scientists revived a “zombie virus” which had been frozen in a lake in Siberia for almost 50,000 years.

The research by the French National Centre for Scientific Research found viruses which have been dormant since prehistorical times. Scientists discovered 13 frozen viruses in seven different samples, including the Pandoravirus, which is 48,000 years old, according to a report in the Independent.

A team led by geneticist Jean-Michel Claverie, who revived several such viruses, say they are capable of infecting only single-cell organisms. However, scientists fear that they could infect humans who are accessing the permafrost.

“If the amoeba viruses are still alive, there is no reason why the other viruses will not be still alive, and capable of infecting their own hosts,” Professor Claverie told CNN last year.

Say hello to arctic zombie viruses: “Research published last year revealed the existence of several different viral strains from seven different sites in Siberia and showed these could infect cultured cells. One virus sample was 48,500 years old.”https://t.co/8AlVnN7f1N

— Jeff Goodell (@jeffgoodell) January 21, 2024

Why are these ancient viruses a threat now?

Scientists say that global warming is thawing the permafrost, resulting in the release of organic matter consisting of these viruses.

There is an increase in human activity in the northmost parts of the Earth. The global heating has increased human interference in this region. As the sea ice melts, shipping and other industrial possibilities like mining are being explored in the permafrost, which covers a fifth of the northern hemisphere, mostly Serbia, Canada and Alaska.

This also means that it exposes people exploring this region to the viruses.

“Huge mining operations are being planned, and are going to drive vast holes into the deep permafrost to extract oil and ores… Those operations will release vast amounts of pathogens that still thrive there. Miners will walk in and breathe the viruses. The effects could be calamitous,” warned Prof Claverie.

Also read: The Awakening: How scientists have revived a 48,500-year-old 'zombie virus'

Can a pandemic caused by zombie viruses be prevented?

Prof Claverie and other scientists are working with the University of the Arctic network to detect early cases of a disease caused the the ancient viruses. The plan is to establish quarantine facilities and provide medical expertise that could detect and treat any early cases, preventing infected people from leaving the region.

“At the moment, analyses of pandemic threats focus on diseases that might emerge in southern regions and then spread north,” Prof Claverie of Aix-Marseille University in France, told The Observer. “By contrast, little attention has been given to an outbreak that might emerge in the far north and then travel south – and that is an oversight, I believe.”

According to him, there are viruses there that have the potential to infect humans and start a new disease outbreak. The team has so far identified genomic traces of human pathogens like pox viruses and herpes viruses in the Siberian permafrost.

“Our immune systems may have never been in contact with some of those microbes, and that is another worry… The scenario of an unknown virus once infecting a Neanderthal coming back at us, although unlikely, has become a real possibility,” he warned.

Backing Prof Claverie, virologist Marion Koopmans of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam said that viruses lying in the permafrost were unknown but posed a threat. “We don’t know what viruses are lying out there in the permafrost but I think there is a real risk that there might be one capable of triggering a disease outbreak – say of an ancient form of polio. We have to assume that something like this could happen,” said Koopmans.

Also read: Why Disease X is being discussed at Davos 2024

Why do viruses thrive in the permafrost?

The average temperature in the Arctic has already risen at a rate three times higher than the global average. The region is witnessing the highest rate of average temperature change, reports the World Wide Fund for Nature.

“The crucial point about permafrost is that it is cold, dark and lacks oxygen, which is perfect for preserving biological material,” Prof Claverie told The Observer last week.

Prof Koopmans said that change in land use has led to past epidemics and this is what is happening in the Arctic right now. “If you look at the history of epidemic outbreaks, one of the key drivers has been change in land use. The Nipah virus was spread by fruit bats who were driven from their habitats by humans. Similarly, monkeypox has been linked to the spread of urbanisation in Africa.”

“And that is what we are about to witness in the Arctic: a complete change in land use, and that could be dangerous, as we have seen elsewhere.”

With inputs from agencies