A 48,000-Year-Old “Zombie” Virus Is Back. What Are The Implications?
Listen, y’all, I love a good zombie story as much as the next person. That said, I’d really prefer not to live through a zombie apocalypse in my lifetime.
I just don’t have it in me.
Scientists apparently have no such qualms, because instead of killing a virus that melted out of the permafrost with fire, they’ve decided to bring it back to life.
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The French medical and genomics researcher behind the gamble, Jean-Michel Claverie, hopes that his experiments could actually work to stop one of climate change’s most worrisome outcomes.
He’s spent his career studying “giant” viruses, which can be seen with regular microscopes. He and others believe that as the permafrost melts, these viruses could jump hosts and be able to infect and kill human beings.
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Other researchers, professor Birgitta Evengard, see the merit in this line of thought.
“You must remember our immune defense has been developed in close contact with microbiological surroundings. If there is a virus hidden in the permafrost that we have not been in contact with for thousands of years, it might be that our immune defense is not sufficient. It is correct to have respect for the situation and be proactive and not just reactive. And the way to fight fear is to have knowledge.”
Claverie has had success reviving preserved viruses in the past. His latest study focuses on five additional strains, including a 48,500-years-old virus that is able to infect amoebas.
“We view these amoeba-infecting viruses as surrogates for all other possible viruses that might be in the permafrost. We see the traces of many, many, many other viruses, so we know they are there.”
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Claverie admits that they’re unsure whether or not all of the other viruses are still alive, but he feels like we need to be prepared for them to be.
“Our reasoning is that if the amoeba viruses are still alive, there is no reason why the other viruses will not be still alive, and capable of infecting their own hosts.”
Just one more thing to worry about when it comes to the disastrous effects of climate change.
Honestly, it’s getting hard to keep up – but I, for one, definitely vote no to zombies.
