--- title: French Scientists Revitalize Siberian Virus Dormant for 30,000 years description: Experts say contagion does not present danger to humans or animals canonical: https://time.com/12047/virus-resurrected-after-chilling-in-siberia-for-30000-years/ author: David Stout article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-04T06:30:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:33:29.372Z article:section: Science og:title: French Scientists Revitalize Siberian Virus Dormant for 30,000 years og:description: Experts say contagion does not present danger to humans or animals og:url: https://time.com/12047/virus-resurrected-after-chilling-in-siberia-for-30000-years/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b4e29b7638e6a1e/698683c2cd804d6a64cc98ca/frozen_viruses_0304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: The chances of "frozen viruses" reactivating is possible thanks to climate change, according to experts. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: French Scientists Revitalize Siberian Virus Dormant for 30,000 years twitter:description: Experts say contagion does not present danger to humans or animals twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b4e29b7638e6a1e/698683c2cd804d6a64cc98ca/frozen_viruses_0304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Virus Resurrected After Chilling in Siberia for 30,000 years by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Mar 4, 2014 6:30 AM UTC  The chances of "frozen viruses" reactivating is possible thanks to climate change, according to experts. The chances of "frozen viruses" reactivating is possible thanks to climate change, according to experts.Frank Cezus—Getty Images by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Mar 4, 2014 6:30 AM UTC French scientists are celebrating after successfully revitalizing an ancient virus that had been lying dormant for 30,000 years in Siberian permafrost, according to the [BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26387276). Measuring 1.5 micrometers in length, the _Pithovirus sibericum_ strain is the largest virus to ever be discovered. “This is the first time we’ve seen a virus that’s still infectious after this length of time,” said Professor Jean-Michel Claverie, from the National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS) at the University of Aix-Marseille in France. Researchers say the contagion does not pose a danger to humans or animals; rather, it specializes in attacking single-cell amoebas. “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,” said CNRS’s Dr. Chantal Abergel. However, experts admit other potentially harmful viruses could reactivate and spread if more frozen ground becomes exposed from increasing global temperatures. \[[BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26387276)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/12047/virus-resurrected-after-chilling-in-siberia-for-30000-years/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/12047/virus-resurrected-after-chilling-in-siberia-for-30000-years/"},"headline":"Virus Resurrected After Chilling in Siberia for 30,000 years","datePublished":"2014-03-04T06:30:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:33:29.372Z","description":"Experts say contagion does not present danger to humans or animals","url":"https://time.com/12047/virus-resurrected-after-chilling-in-siberia-for-30000-years/","keywords":["Biology","France","Virus","Siberia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b4e29b7638e6a1e/698683c2cd804d6a64cc98ca/frozen_viruses_0304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b4e29b7638e6a1e/698683c2cd804d6a64cc98ca/frozen_viruses_0304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The chances of \"frozen viruses\" reactivating is possible thanks to climate change, according to experts.","caption":"The chances of \"frozen viruses\" reactivating is possible thanks to climate change, according to experts.","creditText":"Frank Cezus—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/biology/","name":"Biology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/12047/virus-resurrected-after-chilling-in-siberia-for-30000-years/","name":"Virus Resurrected After Chilling in Siberia for 30,000 years"}}]}] ```