Maybe you noticed media reports talking about ancient viruses found in permafrost. Sometimes even using catchphrases like "zombie virus revived from the ice". And I am not exaggerating, even CNN used the term zombie virus in a headline. Today I would like to talk about where these stories are coming from and what research was done on viruses or their fragments conserved in permafrost.

On viruses that were discovered in permafrost samples as old as 50,000 years.

On viruses that can sometimes still be infectious, even after all this time.

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Sources:

R. Wu, 2022: RNA Viruses Linked to Eukaryotic Hosts in Thawed Permafrost • J. Alempic, 2023: An Update on Eukaryotic Viruses Revived from Ancient Permafrost • M. Legendre, 2014: Thirty-thousand-year-old distant relative of giant icosahedral DNA viruses with a pandoravirus morphology; 2015: In-depth study of Mollivirus sibericum, a new 30,000-y-old giant virus infecting Acanthamoeba • S. Rigou, 2022: Metagenomic survey of the microbiome of ancient Siberian permafrost and modern Kamchatkan cryosols • The Guardian, 2024: Arctic zombie viruses in Siberia could spark terrifying new pandemic, scientists warn (online, accessed 21/04/2024) • S. Malavin, 2020: Frozen Zoo: a collection of permafrost samples containing viable protists and their viruses • Z. Zhong, 2021: Glacier ice archives nearly 15,000-year-old microbes and phages • K. Hueffer, 2020: Factors Contributing to Anthrax Outbreaks in the Circumpolar North • V. Timofeev, 2019: Insights from Bacillus anthracis strains isolated from permafrost in the tundra zone of Russia • P. Biagini, 2012: Variola virus in a 300-year-old Siberian mummy