The claim
For a few days now, various media outlets have been reporting on a “zombie virus” that was discovered in the Arctic and is leading to the wildest speculation on social media.
Our conclusion
The discovered and reactivated viruses only affect a certain type of amoeba; purely biologically, they cannot attack human cells at all.
The message is of course ideal for memes, scaremongering and fears: A team of European scientists has revived a 48,500-year-old virus from the Siberian permafrost.
You can use headlines to ask whether we are threatened with the next pandemic, right? No – unless you are a certain type of amoeba, because the virus cannot be dangerous for humans!
The panic headlines
“Zombie virus” alone sounds great, because everyone thinks of horror films, of viruses that can “zombify” you. It’s not about a virus that turns you into a zombie, but about viruses that “revive.” “ were - although this is again wrong, since viruses are not living beings, which is why the catchphrase “zombie virus” is misleading.
One of the media outlets (“Carcasses in the Arctic”) even managed to confuse the location of the viruses (yes, not just one, but 13 previously unknown viruses were found) with a find from 2015 , which, however, was not in a carcass either but only indicated a carcass as a possible location for viruses.
And since many people apparently only read the word “zombie virus”, the discovery is taken literally:
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Which viruses have been discovered
The current study, which HERE , was conducted to gain a better understanding of the risks posed by these so-called “zombie viruses”. It should be noted that this is currently still a pre-print, meaning that the study has not yet been checked for accuracy by other experts.
The term “zombie virus” is also used in the study, but deliberately with quotation marks, because since viruses are not living beings, they cannot be “brought back to life” but can be reactivated – which was achieved with the viruses found .
The 13 newly discovered viruses were isolated from 7 different ancient Siberian permafrost samples, including 1 from the Lena River and 1 from the Kamchatka cryosol . These are Pandoraviruses, Cedratviruses, Megaviruses and Pacmanviruses (yes, they're really called that !) as well as a new Pithovirus strain.
These viruses are extremely interesting for researchers because they are unusually large. Let's take the Pandora viruses : they are half a micrometer wide and one micrometer long, which makes them visible even under a light microscope. They also have a genome that is similar to bacteria, which is why it was unclear for a long time whether they were bacteria or viruses.
Can these viruses be dangerous to humans?
Anyone who has taken a look at the study can already guess the answer, because all of these viruses have one thing in common: they attack Acanthamoeba spp. , or simply put: amoebas .
There are around 1 billion years of evolution between amoeba and human cells, figuratively speaking, humans are more closely related to a sponge than to an amoeba. From a purely biological perspective, it is not possible for these viruses to be dangerous to humans.
Why are they being examined if they cannot be dangerous?
Even if some people don't want to admit it: We are currently experiencing man-made climate change, which is causing the permafrost in the Arctic to slowly thaw and viruses , bacteria and protozoa can emerge that have survived the permafrost and could continue to multiply.
Since the study may have proven that amoeba viruses can survive in permafrost, there is a high probability that viruses that could be dangerous to humans will eventually thaw and multiply.
The danger is currently not particularly great, as fewer than 5 million people live in the immediate vicinity of the Arctic permafrost (which is already a high number), but since the melting soils also offer new opportunities to obtain raw materials , There will also be more people and more infrastructure there - and more chances for potentially dangerous viruses to infect people.
Conclusion
So it makes no sense to worry now about a “zombie virus” that cannot zombify you or infect you at all. But if you have Acanthamoeba spp. If you are and are reading this: Sorry, you have to be careful.
But the danger lies more in a possible future in which viruses thaw that could also pose a threat to humans, combined with a growing infrastructure and therefore more people in the areas where permafrost still exists.
Article image: bioRxiv
Also interesting: A digital work of art consisting of a reindeer or deer with glowing orange antlers has misled many social media users into thinking it was a real photo.
– Fact check: Does this photo show a real reindeer with glowing antlers?
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )