As if there weren't enough problems with thawing tundra. A virus of unprecedented size was isolated a few months ago from Russian permafrost 30,000 years old and reactivated. Now that this virus has been revived from the permafrost, so too could potentially harmful pathogens, possibly including viruses humans have never encountered before, the researchers say. Should we be worried about this? Taking part in this programme of Eco Plus at the Voice of Russia is: Professor Allington, who works in the Department of Plant Pathology in the University of Nebraska, and Dr. Rivkina from the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science in Pushchino, Russia.
Are small viruses more dangerous than large viruses?
Professor Allington: That is exactly true. The size of the virus has nothing to do with whether it will cause a disease.
Are regenerated viruses dangerous?
Professor Allington: That is certainly true. As you probably know, small pox virus was eradicated from the planet. There are 2 stocks left – one in Russia and one in the US. And originally they wanted to wipe out those two stocks but even 20 years ago one of the comments was that maybe one digs out somebody in the frozen environment who died from small pox virus and then the virus could be still viable. So, the idea of possible pathogens in these frozen environments is certainly not a new idea. There is another thing that is you have to remember that most viruses do not infect humans in general. Viruses are very specific to the organisms that they infect. But the possibility does exist as we have climate warming and so force.
