‘Zombie’ virus, after remaining frozen 48,500 years in Arctic, may cause a deadly pandemic, warn scientists

In a new study, the scientists have issued a warning regarding how dangerous are the viruses which are buried under ice sheets in the Arctic permafrost and other places.  

The scientists said that the melting Arctic permafrost is likely to release the 'zombie viruses' that can cause catastrophic global health emergencies, as per a report published in The Guardian.  

The threat regarding the zombie virus has escalated because of rising temperatures due to global warming, which also resulted in the melting of the frozen ice. 

Some of the samples retrieved from Siberian permafrost last year were used by scientists to better understand the risks related to these viruses. These viruses have remained frozen in the ground for thousands of years. 

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Speaking to The Guardian, Geneticist Jean-Michel Claverie of Aix-Marseille University said, "At the moment, analyses of pandemic threats focus on diseases that might emerge in southern regions and then spread north. 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. There are viruses up there that have the potential to infect humans and start a new disease outbreak."

Live viruses can infect single-celled creatures: Scientists

Meanwhile, scientist Marion Koopmans of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam also agreed with the conclusions and said, "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." 

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Although being buried for thousands of years in permafrost, live viruses can still infect single-celled creatures, as per the team of scientists headed by Claverie in Siberia in 2014. One of the virus samples collected dates back 48,500 years.

"The viruses we isolated were only able to infect amoebae and posed no risk to humans. However, that does not mean that other viruses - currently frozen in the permafrost - might not be able to trigger illnesses in humans. We have identified genomic traces of poxviruses and herpesviruses, which are well-known human pathogens, for example," Claverie said.  

(With inputs from agencies)