A multitude of very old and still infectious viruses have been discovered, after they have been frozen in the permafrost for about 50,000 years. For this reason, these viruses, considered the surprising situation, were nicknamed "zombies" and were still able to infect single-celled amoebae in life after they emerged from freezing. This is stated in a new study published in the journal Viruses.
Researchers found and unearthed 13 new viruses in all, with ages between 27,000 and 48,500 years. This means that some of them may be the oldest viruses ever awakened. Some were discovered inside the frozen intestines of a Siberian wolf and others in a permafrost sample that possessed a huge amount of mammoth wool.
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Although the viruses remained frozen for millennia, they were still capable of infecting cultured amoebae once the team had breathed new life into them. However, although this may sound pretty incredible, it is also true that it could be very dangerous for public health.
Scientists in the study consider these viruses that infect amoeba as surrogates for all other possible viruses that may be found in permafrost. There are traces of many other viruses. It is not known for sure that they are still alive. Their reasoning is that while amieba viruses are still alive, there is no reason why other viruses should not be alive and capable of infecting their hosts.
Unfortunately, as the climate crisis continues to worsen, many more microbial threats may emerge. Although these "zombie" viruses are not known to have any effect on human health, some hypotheses hold that the cause of a future pandemic can live in melted permafrost and glaciers.
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