Warmer temperatures in the Arctic are thawing the region's permafrost — a frozen layer of soil beneath the ground — and potentially stirring viruses that, after lying dormant for tens of thousands of years, could endanger animal and human health.
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"There's a lot going on with the permafrost that is of concern, and (it) really shows why it's super important that we keep as much of the permafrost frozen as possible," said Kimberley Miner, a climate scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.
And in his latest research, published February 18 in the journal Viruses , Claverie and his team isolated several strains of ancient virus from multiple samples of permafrost taken from seven different places across Siberia and showed they could each infect cultured amoeba cells.
It is correct to have respect for the situation and be proactive and not just reactive.
Chances of viral spillover Of course, in the real world, scientists don't know how long these viruses could remain infectious once exposed to present-day conditions, or how likely the virus would be to encounter a suitable host.
Article source : www.cnn.com