Climate Action
Climate Change is Awakening Zombie Viruses
October 31, 2025
Zombies are a powerful symbol of the impacts of climate change, and the horrific things that happen to us and the planet when we betray nature.
In the Resident Evil franchise, a corporation carelessly makes a disease that wipes out ecosystems and reanimates people, mirroring the way modern corporations damage the environment for profit. In the satirical 2019 movie The Dead Don’t Die, “polar fracking” causes the dead to rise from their graves. And in HBO’s hit television series The Last of Us, the fungi that enslave humanity can only do so because rapidly warming climates help the fungi survive inside human hosts.
While zombies might just be science fiction, not science fact, climate change is our reality, and it is reintroducing long-frozen pathogens back into the world. Rising temperatures are causing the Arctic permafrost to melt and, in the process, releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases back into the environment. This is exacerbating global warming.
But this is not the only frightening thing melting permafrost is triggering — because permafrost also contains disease-causing viruses, and, when it melts, these zombie viruses may “come back to life” and spread chaos.
The human species is only 200,000 years old. We don’t know what kind of viruses existed before that, and we’re certain our immune systems were never exposed to them.
Jean-Michael Claverie, Zombie Virus Microbiologist
Rising From The Ice
Since they have been dormant for so long, literally frozen in the ice, we don’t have great immunity to them, and that makes them dangerous. Meaning they pose a grave threat to public health. The adaptive immune system, our body’s strongest line of defense, works by capturing pathogens we’ve already encountered, and developing specific antibodies for them. Since we haven’t encountered these viruses before, our immune systems will be vulnerable to them.
So, how much trouble are we in? In 2023, a study found thirteen zombie viruses in Siberian permafrost that could infect humans. Further investigation, through experiments on viruses that only infect amoebas, revealed that these “revived” viruses can still infect their hosts. Scientists warn that the disappearance of Arctic sea ice may incentivize mining operations that would both enable more pathogens to wake up, and bring them into contact with people.
Some zombie viruses have already infected both animals and people. Researchers have excavated human remains buried in permafrost, and found traces of smallpox and the Spanish flu, which they believe came from melted permafrost. In 2016, permafrost thawing caused anthrax-containing spores to resurface in Siberia, triggering an outbreak of the disease. It impacted fewer than a hundred people but killed one young boy. It also infected the local reindeer population, infecting roughly 2,000,
Worth Caution, But Not Alarmism
According to Think Global Health, “risk is always the combination of hazard and exposure,” and, because very few people live near the Arctic permafrost, the risk of a pandemic with these viruses is hopefully very low. Additionally, according to professor and researcher Dr. Jonathan Stoye, most of the diseases hidden in the permafrost are bacteria, which are much easier to kill than viruses because they can be killed by antibiotics. Viruses cannot.
While the cold, oxygen-free environment of permafrost preserves most biological material, the “inherent instability” of most viral genomes makes it less likely that they will all survive their icy preservation and reactivate. Stoye states that the other climate-related impact of rising temperatures, such as changes to bird migration patterns and insect habitats, is likely far more dangerous because of how easily and widely these animals spread viruses.
All in all, the chances of a “zombie virus” pandemic remain low. But as we saw with COVID-19, what is terrifying about viruses is how quickly they can spread if they are not quickly contained.
Discovery Versus Prevention
Jean-Michael Claverie and Chantal Abergel, a husband and wife science team, who have spent their lives studying zombie viruses. Claverie’s interest was piqued when he read a study about a plant, frozen in permafrost, that had been regenerated. He wondered if the same thing could happen to a virus, and went on to pioneer research in the field.
Now he worries that some scientists are trying to investigate and bring back to “life” mysterious permafrost-trapped viruses, like a Russian team attempting to revive viruses that killed mammoths, which he warns is “stupid and dangerous.” Although most scientific teams use strict protocols and procedures to protect them from virus contamination and disease, just one accident might be enough to cause a serious outbreak.
He has repeatedly called for surveillance of Arctic areas, so that scientists can detect pandemic threats fast. Some efforts have been made to detect and track incidents of disease there, but progress is slow. The World Health Organization (WHO) tends to focus on diseases it already knows, and places where diseases are most likely to spread. So zombie viruses in the Arctic are not a priority. Additionally, Russia accounts for 53% of the Arctic coastline, but tends not to be less cooperative with scientists from other countries.
Perhaps the best pseudo-zombie story for this situation might be Frankenstein, a story of human hubris in the face of the unknown. The novel opens and ends with Captain Walton’s letters from his voyage to the North Pole, where he encounters Victor Frankenstein and later the Creature. The Arctic serves as a stark, isolating backdrop that mirrors the novel’s themes of ambition, discovery, and the dangerous pursuit of knowledge. But just as the Arctic explorer in the novel turns away from glory to save his crew, we can all still make the right choice, and leave nature alone.
If learning about this was enjoyable for you, or spooked you, or both, consider supporting our CLIMATE EDUCATION project. While unknown things, like these viruses, may be scary, learning can transform them into something fascinating and fun, and prepare us to be brave.
We provide resources for educators at all levels, around the world, to learn about why keeping our planet is so important. With your support, we turn the dark, scary unknowns into stories, and lessons, that guide us to a brighter future!
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