--- title: "Researchers in Russia unearth a 48,500-year-old \"Zombie Virus\"" description: "A 48,500-year-old zombie virus that had been frozen beneath the ice has been resurrected by scientists. They have the potential to be contagious." author: "Muskan Singh" published: 2022-12-02 canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/news/2481/researchers-in-russia-unearth-a-48-500-year-old-zombie-virus category: "science and technology" tags: ["technology", "science and technology", "world famous", "research"] reading_time: 2 minutes --- # Researchers in Russia unearth a 48,500-year-old "Zombie Virus" - A 48,500-year-old zombie virus that had been frozen beneath the ice has been resurrected by scientists. - As they have the potential to be contagious, this has generated worries of a new epidemic. According to [researchers](https://www.mindstick.com/news/1544/mars-looks-more-seismically-active-than-before-thought-said-researchers) who recovered nearly two dozen viruses, including one frozen under a lake more than 48,500 [years ago](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/81912/humans-lived-in-america-more-than-30000-years-ago), **climate change** brought on by [global warming](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/85539/how-global-warming-surges-the-after-effects-on-human-health) is rapidly thawing the ancient permafrost, which may provide a new hazard to people. Researchers from Europe analysed prehistoric samples taken from permafrost in Russia's Siberia. According to a Bloomberg story, they discovered that 13 new diseases, which they resurrected and labelled as '**zombie viruses,**' continued to be contagious despite spending many aeons frozen in the earth. **The oldest, [known as](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/35703/ricky-ponting-is-also-known-as-what) Pandoravirus Yedoma, has an estimated age of 48,500 years, breaking the [previous record](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/157521/store-the-previous-record-in-its-history-table-before-updating-it-in-the-sql-table-using-a-trigger) of 30,000 years, which was held by a virus discovered by the same scientists in 2013.**\ The thawing of permafrost brought on by [atmospheric](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/101315/what-is-the-role-of-the-national-oceanic-and-atmospheric-administration-noaa) warming has long been predicted by scientists to accelerate **climate change** by releasing methane and other previously contained greenhouse gases. Less is known about its impact on dormant pathogens. **Due to the strains they targeted, primarily those able to infect amoeba microbes, the team of researchers from Russia, Germany, and France claimed the [biological](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/300929/the-role-of-the-biological-perspective-in-psychology) risk of reanimating the viruses they studied was 'totally negligible.'** They cautioned that their findings can be expanded to indicate the threat is genuine, saying that the possible rebirth of a virus that might infect humans or animals is considerably more problematic. Accordingly, it is possible that old permafrost may unleash these unidentified viruses when it thaws, scientists wrote in a preprint manuscript posted to the bioRxiv preprint server that hasn't yet undergone [peer review](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/107092/how-to-write-a-nursing-peer-review), according to the Bloomberg report. --- Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/news/2481/researchers-in-russia-unearth-a-48-500-year-old-zombie-virus Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.