French scientists have warned of another outbreak in Russia after reviving a 48,500-year-old zombie virus buried under a frozen lake.
However, the report was published in the New York Post, which cited a viral report which is yet to be reviewed. The new research has been funded by the French National Center for Scientific Research. It was developed by the microbiologist Jean-Marie Alempic.
As global temperatures continue to rise, the virus has emerged due to the melting of permafrost. Science Alert reported that the new strain is one of 13 viruses mentioned in the study, each with its own genome.
The oldest, Pandoravirus Yedoma , dubbed after the mythical character Pandora , was 48,500 years old, a record age for a frozen virus where it has the potential to infect other organisms.
It has broken the previous record of 30,000 year old virus discovered by the same team in Siberia in 2013.
Pandoravirus was discovered at the bottom of a lake in Yukechi Alas in Yakutia, Russia, others have been found everywhere from mammoth fur to Siberian wolf intestines.
What could be the reason for this?
According to the study, one-quarter of the Northern Hemisphere is covered by permanently frozen ground, called permafrost.
Part of this organic matter includes revived unicellular microbes (prokaryotes, unicellular eukaryotes) as well as viruses that have been dormant since prehistoric times.