Jakarta –
The World Health Organization (WHO) and a number of experts in the world are now highlighting the potential for the emergence of ‘Disease X’, namely a disease whose type and source are not known for certain but which are feared to become a new pandemic following COVID-19.
As explanations and predictions circulate about what disease X will be like, a number of experts are also highlighting the potential emergence of the ‘Zombie virus’.
This virus is nicknamed the Zombie virus not because of its ability to turn humans into Zombies like in movies. This nickname was given because these viruses have existed for centuries, but are locked in permafrost or frozen landscapes. Here are the facts about the Zombie virus.
1. The effects of climate change and global warming
It is feared that climate change and global warming are increasing every year, causing viruses that were previously trapped in the ice sheet to rise again and threaten humans.
Warming temperatures could make most of the ice melt and release these microbes into the outside world. When free, the pathogen whose species is unknown until now is feared to infect humans or animals.
“Risks will definitely increase in a global warming context, where permafrost thaw will continue to increase, and more people will inhabit the Arctic,” Jean-Michel Claverie, a computational biologist at the University of Aix-Marseille in France who studies ancient science and exotic viruses , said CNN, quoted from Live Science.
2. There are approximately 8 types of Zombie viruses
So far, scientists have only studied permafrost viruses that infect single-celled organisms, or amoebae. This is because this virus is considered harmless and provides a good model for other viruses that may still be hidden in permafrost.
8 Zombie viruses that are feared to revive due to global warming, including Pithovirus sibericum, Molivirus sibericum, Pithovirus mammoth, Pandoravirus mammoth, Pandoravirus yedoma, Megavirus mammoth, Pacmanvirus lupus, and Cedratvirus lena.
So far, there have been no cases of humans being infected with these viruses. However, experts warn that the more permafrost thaws, the greater the possibility that a deadly virus could threaten the world.
NEXT: List of other diseases that WHO suspects have the potential to become a new pandemic
Watch Video “Miscellaneous Disease X, a disease that is warned by WHO“
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2023-06-06 22:30:32
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