Arctic 'zombie' viruses in Siberia could one day be released by Earth's warming climate and cause a new pandemic, scientists warn

Scientists have warned that ancient 'zombie viruses' trapped in Siberia's permafrost could soon be released and cause a new deadly pandemic as shipping increases in the region.

Scientists have known for years that 'Methusalem microbes', cells that have remained dormant in the permafrost for tens of thousands of years, risk reproducing and spreading like wildfire when removed from their frigid environment.

But they have begun to warn that with 2023 being by far the hottest year on record since global records began in 1850, the risk of a deadly pandemic caused by zombie viruses is greater than ever as more and more permafrost, which covers a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere and is melting.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) reports that average temperatures in the Arctic have already risen three times the global average, and are the region with the highest average temperature change.

Jean-Michel Claverie, a geneticist at the University of Aix-Marseille in the south of France, told The Observer: 'The crucial point about permafrost is that it is cold, dark and devoid of oxygen, which is perfect for preserving biological material.

Increased shipping in the region caused by global warming could release even more ancient pathogens that are extremely difficult to combat

“You can put yogurt in permafrost and it might still be edible 50,000 years later.”

He said the disappearance of Arctic sea ice caused by global warming poses a huge risk to human health.

'That allows an increase in shipping, traffic and industrial development in Siberia. Huge mining operations are being planned, which will punch huge holes in the deep permafrost to extract oil and ores,” he told the newspaper.

'These operations release enormous amounts of pathogens that still thrive there. Miners come in and inhale the viruses. The consequences could be disastrous.'

Scientists have long spoken out about the risk of introducing ancient pathogens into the modern world, saying they may be extremely difficult to combat given how different they are from modern pathogens.

Scientists say the disappearance of Arctic sea ice caused by global warming posed a huge risk to human health

Claverie, together with a team of other scientists, previously published research showing that about one in a hundred ancient pathogens caused major disruptions to ecosystems.

Although the number seems small, the team's research claims that at current rates, four trillion cells escape permafrost every year.

“One percent of four trillion is a number that most people can't even imagine. There are so many, many possibilities for this to happen.

“The probability is small for one individual virus, but there are so many potential viruses,” Corey Bradshaw, director of the Global Ecology Laboratory at Flinders University in Australia, previously said. CNN.

Last year, scientists from Russia, Germany and France identified six ancient diseases trapped in the permafrost that had the potential to cause untold damage to the world.