Russian scientists are trying to identify prehistoric viruses in mammoth remains in order to “reactivate” them and study them. This project is of great concern to the global scientific community.
- It is estimated that there are more than a quintillion viruses on earth, or 10 to the power of 31.
- According to estimates, there are more than a quintillion viruses on earth, or 10 to the power of 31.
- Israeli researchers recently discovered 100,000 new types of RNA virus in our ecosystems (wastewater, soil, oceans…).
Mammoths and woolly rhinos died out thousands of years ago. Witnesses to their presence on earth are the remains found in the frozen soil of Siberia. Russian researchers from the National Center for Research in Virology and Biotechnology (also known as the Vector Institute) decided to dig up some of these ancient mammals in order to extract the viruses they contained.
Their project to reactivate these “paleoviruses” in order to study them, greatly worries international scientists.
The study of prehistoric viruses worries scientists
Jean-Michel Claverie, professor of microbiology at the University of Aix-Marseille in France, is familiar with prehistoric viruses. He recently managed to revive a virus trapped in the gel for 48,500 years. Despite everything, the Russian research worries the scientist. Unlike his subject of study, which could only infect unicellular amoebae, the paleoviruses analyzed by the Russians affected mammals.
“[La recherche de Vector] is awful. I’m totally against it”he told the Times. “It’s very very risky. Our immune system has never encountered this type of virus. Some of them could be 200,000 or even 400,000 years old. Old viruses that infect animals or humans could still be infectious,” he added..
Another source of fear: security. Several accidents have been recorded within the research center in recent years. In 2004, a researcher died after accidentally sticking herself with a needle containing the Ebola virus. In September 2019, a gas explosion occurred in one of the laboratories. The institute assured that its facilities were safe. However, its teams have not communicated with the Western scientific community since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Filippa Lentzos, biosecurity expert at King’s College London, also warns against hackers, recalling that the most secure laboratories can be hacked.
“Many of us who analyze and follow what they do are not convinced that the potential benefits, which are in the distant future, necessarily outweigh the very real risks that exist in the present. generally safe practices, accidents can still happen”she confides in the English media.
Prehistoric viruses: melting ice, also a risk
Russian work on mammoth paleoviruses highlights a growing threat to public health: permafrost thaw. This ground, permanently frozen in normal times, begins to melt due to global warming. This can lead to the release of viruses, bacteria and other substances that it previously contained.
An anthrax outbreak in a reindeer herding community in Russia’s far north in 2016 has been linked to melting permafrost. It had caused the hospitalization of at least 72 people and the death of a 12-year-old boy. 2,300 reindeer had also been killed by the disease.