Scientists warn that humanity could face potentially dangerous epidemics caused by strains of zombie viruses or ancient microbes like Methuselah, which have been frozen in the Arctic permafrost. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, according to their view, this global threat may not come from a new disease, but from the resurgence of pathogens from the distant past.
The situation of viruses in permafrost
As a result, scientists have begun to develop plans to create an Arctic surveillance system aimed at detecting early cases of diseases caused by ancient microorganisms.
The system will also ensure that quarantine measures are in place and that qualified medical care is provided to those infected to prevent potential epidemics and infections from spreading beyond the region.
Jean-Michel Cláveri, a geneticist at the University of Aix-Marseille, said little attention has been paid to potential outbreaks that could occur in the far north and then spread south. Some viruses can infect humans and cause new outbreaks.
This view is supported by virologist Marion Koopmans of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, noting: "We don't know what viruses are in the permafrost, but I think there is a real risk that there could be a virus that can cause disease outbreaks – such as an ancient form of polio."
In 2014, under the leadership of Claveri, a group of scientists isolated live viruses in Siberia and demonstrated their ability to infect single-celled organisms, despite the fact that they have spent thousands of years in eternal permafrost.
Siberian virus (**Jean-Michel cl**erie igs cnrs-AM) isolated from permafrost samples from 30,000 years ago in 2014
A follow-up study published last year identified several different strains of the virus from seven different locations in Siberia and showed that they could infect cultured cells. A sample of the virus was found to be 48,500 years old.
The key point of permafrost is that it is cold, dark, and hypoxic, making it ideal for preserving biological materials. You can put yogurt in permafrost and it may still be edible after 50,000 years," says Jean-Michel Cl**erie.
Melt eternal permafrost
However, the world's eternal permafrost is changing. Due to the uneven effects of climate change on the Arctic, the upper layers of the Earth's main reserves, located in Canada, Siberia and Alaska, are melting. According to meteorologists, the region is warming several times faster than the average rate of global warming.
The main threat is not so much the melting of permafrost as the disappearance of Arctic sea ice. This process contributed to the development of shipping, transport infrastructure and industry in Siberia.
A major mining operation is planned, during which extensive drilling will be carried out at the depths of the permafrost for oil and ore. According to Cl**erie, these operations may release a large number of pathogens.
Scientists believe that eternal permafrost, especially in the depths, may contain viruses that are up to a million years old. They are much older than the species that appeared about 300,000 years ago.
Our immune systems may never have been exposed to some of these microbes, which is another concern," Cl**erie added. Encountering an unknown virus that once infected Neanderthals, while unlikely, is now quite possible.