[N]o, it isn’t an excerpt from a remake of The Thing, nor is this a hoax. Apparently, a major new virus has been discovered lying beneath 100 feet of ice, and it’s ALIVE:
Tests show that it attacks amoebas, which are single-celled organisms, but does not infect humans or other animals.Co-author Dr Chantal Abergel, also from the CNRS, said: “It comes into the cell, multiplies and finally kills the cell. It is able to kill the amoeba – but it won’t infect a human cell.”
via BBC News – 30,000-year-old giant virus ‘comes back to life’.
There’s much more buried within the body of the article.
Prof Claverie warns that exposing the deep layers could expose new viral threats.
He said: “It is a recipe for disaster. If you start having industrial explorations, people will start to move around the deep permafrost layers. Through mining and drilling, those old layers will be penetrated and this is where the danger is coming from.”He told BBC News that ancient strains of the smallpox virus, which was declared eradicated 30 years ago, could pose a risk.
“If it is true that these viruses survive in the same way those amoeba viruses survive, then smallpox is not eradicated from the planet – only the surface,” he said. [emphasis mine]
Add this to the growing ‘Smallpox’ Meme that’s been spinning for about five years. Just sayin’….
