Are There Zombie Viruses — Like The 1918 Flu — Thawing In The Permafrost?
"In the past few years, there has been a growing fear about a possible consequence
of climate change: zombie pathogens. Specifically, bacteria and viruses — preserved for centuries in frozen ground — coming back to life as the Arctic's permafrost starts to thaw."
"The idea resurfaced in the summer of 2016 when a large anthrax outbreak struck Siberia."
"A heat wave in the Arctic thawed a thick layer of the permafrost, and a bunch of reindeer carcasses started to warm up. The animals had died of anthrax, and as their bodies thawed, so did the bacteria. Anthrax spores spread across the tundra. Dozens of people were hospitalized, and a 12-year-old boy died."
"On the surface, it looked as though zombie anthrax had somehow come back to life after being frozen for 70 years. What pathogen would be next? Smallpox? The 1918 flu?"
"The media took the idea of "zombie pathogens" and ran with it."
"'Climate change ... could awaken Earth's forgotten pathogens,"' The Atlantic wrote. 'Many of these pathogens may be able to survive a gentle thaw — and if they do, researchers warn, they could reinfect humanity.'"
"'Scientists are witnessing the theoretical turning into reality: infectious microbes emerging from a deep freeze,' Scientific American wrote."