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Russian scientists in the middle of Siberia have been racing to wake up ancient viruses to their evolution, raising concerns that a twist of fate could also cause another pandemic. On widespread suspicion that the coronavirus may have escaped a virus research outlet in Wuhan, China, Western scientists, who have had little or no communication with their Russian counterparts since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, fear that the Russian lab in question is “outdated” and negligently handling those viruses. At the National Research Center for Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR, also known as the Vector Institute in central Russia, scientists analyzed remains of mammoths, woolly rhinos and other ice age animals perfectly preserved in a region of Siberia.
Scientists are believed to be managing to identify and revive prehistoric viruses, also known as paleoviruses.
They conducted studies of ice age animals that had been perfectly preserved in the frozen land of Yakutia, a vast region in northeastern Siberia.
Woolly mammoths and rhinos have been in the region where temperatures can drop to -55°C.
But Western scientists have expressed concern about the quality of care at the center, especially given the potential danger of viruses.
Professor Jean-Michel Claverie, of the National Centre for Scientific Research at the University of Aix-Marseille, said the paintings made by Russian scientists are “very, very risky”.
He said: “Vector studies are very, very risky. Our immune formula has never encountered that kind of virus. Some of them may be only 200,000 or even 400,000 years old. “
He also warned that viruses threatening to be revived would have killed mammoths and would be there to infect humans.
A similar task was carried out by French scientists, who made headlines last month for claiming they had revived a “zombie” virus that had been under a lakebed in Yakutia for about 50,000 years.
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But the French researchers said their discovery of a virus that infects amoebas poses little danger to animals or humans.
This is separate from what is the idea of Russia’s research, which can have devastating effects on humans.
Russian scientists have been accused of “gain-of-function” virology, which aims to create a more lethal strain of a pathogen for research purposes. of viruses unknown in the past before they are released as the climate melts the Arctic and Siberia.
Some believe, however, that this is a takeover of the threat and that there is “enough discussion” about the social implications.
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Filippa Lentzos, a biosecurity expert at King’s College London, said: “There is enough discussion about whether we, as a society, are willing to take those risks.
The Vector State Virology and Biotechnology Research Center is one of 59 maximum security biolaboratories in the world and is a former Soviet biological weapons laboratory.
It is also one of two legal sites to buy samples of the deadly smallpox virus, along with the other in the United States.
In 2019, a World Health Organization-mandated inspection revealed no major concerns, but the WHO team was unable to practice researchers making practical paintings because the facility closed for “scheduled maintenance. “
Clavarie said, “I wouldn’t be quite sure everything [on Vector] is up to date. “
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