Scientists have recently examined viruses which, after being frozen for 50,000 years in the depths of the Siberian permafrost, are come back to life and they were even able to infect living single-celled amoebae after re-emerging from their deep frozen state.
In particular, they have been identified and resuscitated 13 viruses in totalaged between 27,000 and 48,500 years found inside the frozen intestines of a Siberian wolf and in a sample of permafrost containing a large amount of mammoth wool. I’m certainly not the first organisms to be brought to life.
“We see these viruses infecting the amoeba as surrogates for all other possible viruses that could be found in the permafrost“, Professor Jean-Michel Claverie, authors of the article, told CNN. “We see traces of many, many, many other viruses”, continues the expert. “We know they are there. We don’t know for sure that they are still alive. If the amoeba viruses are still alive, there’s no reason why the other viruses aren’t still alive and capable of infecting their hosts.“
Concern is certainly legitimate on the part of insiders because as the climate crisis continues to worsen, many more potential microbial threats are likely to awaken. The possible impact on human health remains to be seen, which is why scientists will surely keep a close eye on the situation… or at least we hope.