Frozen Zombie Virus Could Be A Public Health Threat Amid Thaw, Scientists Warn

According to French scientists, there has been a “zombie virus” that has been trapped under a frozen lake in Russia for a record 50,000 years.

Scientists say this could be disastrous in the case of planets, animals and humans if this unknown virus revives itself. 

The new research was helmed by microbiologist Jean-Marie Alempic from the French National Centre for Scientific Research, Science Alert reported.

According to the preliminary paper, global warming is causing the permafrost — permanently frozen ground covering one-quarter of the Northern Hemisphere — to irreversibly thaw. 

This has had the alarming effect of “releasing organic matter frozen for up to a million years” — including potentially harmful pathogens.

Scientists are warning medical authorities about the lack of updated info on “live” “zombie viruses” that could become a very real public health threat.

To study these awakening organisms, scientists have, perhaps paradoxically, revived some of these so-called “zombie viruses” from the Siberian permafrost.

These viruses have been found at the bottom of lakes and in mammoth fur and the intestines of a Siberian wolf.

After studying the live cultures, scientists found that all the “zombie viruses” have the potential to be infectious, and are therefore a “health threat.” 

They postulate that we could see more COVID-19-style pandemics in the future as ever-melting permafrost continues to release long-dormant viruses.

The newly thawed virus might only be the tip of the epidemiological iceberg as there are likely more hibernating viruses yet to be discovered.