Global warming not only threatens to demand thousands of creatures, but may also awakening from a long lethargy to viruses and bacteria that humanity has never known.
To study emerging microbes, scientists have revived several of these “virus zombis” del permafrost Siberian, including one believed which is almost 50,000 years olda record age for a frozen virus returning to a state capable of infecting other organisms.
The investigation is led by the microbiologist Jean-Marie Alempic of the French National Center for Scientific Research, who points out that these viruses are a major threat to public health and that more studies are needed to assess the danger that these infectious agents might pose as they wake up from their frozen sleep.
“A quarter of the northern hemisphere is underlain by permanently frozen groundknown as permafrost,” the researchers write in their Article .
The revived virus was named “Pandoravirus yedoma” and it’s just one of countless organisms that may be waiting to wake up from the frozen ground.
Therefore, it is legitimate to reflect on the risk of old viral particles remaining infectious and circulating again by the thawing of the old layers of permafrost”, argued the leader of the investigation.