Melting Arctic permafrost could unleash ancient zombie viruses and trigger a catastrophic global health emergency, worried scientists say.
“We now face a tangible threat and we must be prepared to meet it. It’s as simple as that,” geneticist Jean-Michel Claverie, emeritus professor of medicine and genomics at Aix-Marseille University, told The Guardian.
Experts are already working with Arctic University, an international education and research cooperative, to establish a monitoring network to help identify cases of diseases caused by ancient microorganisms at an early stage, before their spread gets out of control. .
The network would also provide quarantine facilities and medical services for those infected to help minimize a potential outbreak, including preventing contagious patients from leaving the region.
Microbes called Methuselah, also known as zombie viruses, are capable of remaining viable for tens of thousands of years locked in the frozen soil, which covers almost 20% of the Earth’s northern hemisphere.
“The crucial part about permafrost is that it is cold, dark and lacks oxygen, which is perfect for preserving biological material,” Claverie said.
Melting Arctic permafrost could release “zombie” viruses that could cause a pandemic, scientists say. Photo by MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP via Getty Images Geneticist Jean-Michel Claverie said zombie viruses are a “tangible threat” that humanity must be prepared for. SVFU
“You could put yogurt in permafrost and it could still be edible 50,000 years later.”
Scientists believe the deeper layers of permafrost could be preserving viruses that inhabited Earth up to a million years ago, long before the oldest ancestors of humans, who are believed to have made their first appearance on the planet about 300,000 years ago. years.
Therefore, modern humans would have no natural immunity against prehistoric viral invaders.
“Our immune system may have never been in contact with some of those microbes, and that’s another concern,” Claverie told the outlet. “The scenario that an unknown virus that once infected a Neanderthal would return to us, although unlikely, has become a real possibility.”
A microorganism discovered when permaforst thawed. Jean-Michel Claverie/IGS/CNRS-AM Like the zombies in monster movies, researchers are increasingly concerned that viruses that have lain dormant for tens of thousands of years may pose a threat. fake images
The prospect of ancient viruses escaping their icy prisons in the most remote regions of the Earth and triggering a new global pandemic seems unlikely, but virologists believe there is at least some room for concern.
“We don’t know what viruses are hiding in the permafrost, but I think there is a real risk that there is one capable of triggering a disease outbreak, for example an ancient form of polio,” says Erasmus virologist Marion Koopmans. Rotterdam Medical Center, she told the outlet.
“We have to assume that something like this could happen.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn