Did scientists find a frozen virus in the Russian permafrost that could turn people into zombies? No, that's not true. Humans being infected by a "zombie virus" is a popular trope of cinema and fiction, but there is no such thing in reality.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on December, 2, 2022, under the title "zombie virus!".
It opened:
Scientists found zombie virus frozen in permafrost in Russia for more than 48,500 years.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Apr 19 00:45:52 2023 UTC)
The clip shows a news headline in the Thai language that says, "Scientists found zombie virus frozen in permafrost in Russia for more than 48,500 years," followed by images of a zombie skeleton. Text and images, together, are misleading. They reference popular horror tv series, such as "The Walking Dead," where, in the fictional plot, humankind is trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. The actual news report quoted in the TikTok post says that scientists have "revived" for research purposes these ancient viruses found in the permafrost in Russia.
The term "zombie" has appeared in the headlines of several news stories (here and here) reporting on a scientific study published in the journal Viruses in February 2023. "Zombie" is used in reference to the ancient viruses carefully revived by a team of European scientists as part of their research. It does not mean that these viruses can turn people into zombies.
Warmer temperatures in the Arctic are thawing the permafrost - the frozen layer below the Earth's surface - potentially reawakening viruses that could harm human and animal health. According to scientists, it is crucial to understand if viruses trapped in the permafrost pose a real threat and explore solutions before infecting humans and animals.
In a CNN article published on March 8, 2023, Birgitta Evengård, professor emerita at Umea University's Department of Clinical Microbiology in Sweden, said
If there is a virus hidden in the permafrost that we have not been in contact with for thousands of years, it might be that our immune defense is not sufficient. It is correct to have respect for the situation and be proactive and not just reactive. And the way to fight fear is to have knowledge.
