A group of scientists have revived a 48,500 year-old zombie virus which was reportedly buried in a frozen lake in Russia.
In a New York Post article, French scientists have sparked fears of yet another pandemic after they were able to revive an old virus.
“The situation would be much more disastrous in the case of plant, animal, or human diseases caused by the revival of an ancient unknown virus,” the study read.
Based on the study, global warming has affected the permafrost which unearthed millions of years-old viruses.
“Part of this organic matter also consists of revived cellular microbes as well as viruses that remained dormant since prehistorical times,” the researchers said.
The so-called “zombie viruses” from the Siberian permafrost are now under scientific investigation.
The oldest, Pandoravirus yedoma, was 48,500 years old whic holds the record for a frozen virus returning to a form where it may infect other creatures.
This breaks the previous record of a 30,000-year-old virus identified in Siberia by the same scientists in 2013.
“It is therefore legitimate to ponder the risk of ancient viral particles remaining infectious and getting back into circulation by the thawing of ancient permafrost layers,” they said.
