Overnight, reports began emerging of what can only be described as a ‘zombie virus’. It sounds…grim, but there’s actually a scientific explanation behind it.
So what is zombie virus and should you be worried?
What is zombie virus?
Zombie virus is the term given to a virus that was previously trapped, frozen in time if you will, in ice. It’s so-called a zombie virus because it was once living, by standard scientific definition, then it was frozen and now, once the preserving ice has melted, it’s back ‘alive’.
Per Science Alert, with the world warming up, parts that were previously frozen are melting away. What this is doing is releasing material that was trapped, including a bunch of microbes that were otherwise dormant.
Why are we talking about zombie viruses?
Well, scientists, the ever curious, wanted to study these frozen microbes. So, they did what anyone would do – they’ve unfrozen them. Yep. Scientists have now revived a number of these zombie viruses from Siberian permafrost. One, found trapped beneath a lakebed in Yakutia for 48,500 years – is believed to be the oldest “live” virus to be recovered so far.
While these viruses do pose a threat to humans, this particular virus is believed to infect single-cell organisms and isn’t believed to pose a threat to humans.
According to Science Alert, the 48,500-year-old amoeba virus is actually one of 13, with nine of them thought to be tens of thousands of years old. The researchers established that each one was distinct from all other known viruses in terms of their genome.
Should you panic?
No.
Aix-Marseille University professor Jean-Michel Claverie, co-author of the study, issued a warning to medical authorities, however, about the lack of significant updates on “live” viruses in permafrost since original studies in 2014 and 2015, the Sun reported.
In their paper, the scientists also said: “This wrongly suggests that such occurrences are rare and that ‘zombie viruses’ are not a public health threat.”
What’s causing the panic is the insinuation that Russian scientists could accidentally unleash a new pandemic by researching viruses from permafrost-preserved remains of mammoths or woolly rhinoceros.
Stay safe out there, folks.