Researchers have issued a warning regarding the thawing of ancient microbes that have been frozen in Siberia's permafrost for millennia, and they pose a 'disastrous' threat to the human race.
Jean-Michel Claverie knows that the virologist has warned that global warming leads to the thawing of ice that has been preserved for tens of thousands of years before the emergence of civilization. This is a convenient condition for viruses could be unleashed.
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Claverie shared: With climate change, we are used to thinking of dangers coming from the south.
'Now, we realize there might be some danger coming from the north as the permafrost thaws and frees microbes, bacteria, and viruses.'
These ancient viruses have already been discovered in various sources, including mammoth wool, Siberian mummies, prehistoric wolves, and the lungs of an individual who succumbed to Influenza and was interred in Alaska's permafrost.
Scientists claimed that six frozen pathogens are believed to pose the most significant peril to humanity.
The genuine risk of frozen diseases preserved in the ice has been evidenced by past events. For instance, a heatwave in Siberia in 2016 activated dormant anthrax spores, resulting in the killing of a child, along with thousands of reindeer.
Claverie's research team, in a decade-long effort, has primarily focused on the revival of giant viruses that were found within the ice. He also warned that it could potentially infect humans. These "giant viruses" which determined to be pandoravirus that can infect amoebas.
A quarter of the northern hemisphere is situated on top of permanently frozen ground known as permafrost. However, substantial regions are currently experiencing thawing due to global warming.
Previously, scientists have expressed concerns that global warming and the thawing of ice could unearth diseases such as smallpox, preserved within the remains of victims, with even a small number of infectious particles being sufficient to resurrect the pathogen.
The planet's temperature has already risen by 1.2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times, and experts have issued warnings that the Arctic could witness ice-free summers by the 2030s.
In 2014, Claverie's team successfully revived viruses but, for safety reasons, focused on viruses that could only infect amoebas
Since 2019, Claverie has isolated 13 new viruses. This warns that an unknown, ancient pathogen that could have disastrous consequences for humanity.
The World Health Organization initiated a global scientific process last year to address the concept of "Disease X," referring to an unidentified pathogen capable of triggering a worldwide epidemic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former chief medical advisor to the President, has emphasized that the notion of Disease X enables researchers to focus on entire classes of viruses rather than individual strains.
strains.
