WHO rehearses deadly ‘mammothpox’ outbreak

An exercise by the UN agency earlier this month simulated an outbreak of a “fictional” virus spreading across the world.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently rehearsed a scenario in which an ancient virus lying dormant in the remains of a woolly mammoth caused a deadly global outbreak of “mammothpox,” The Telegraph has reported, citing documents about the exercise it had obtained.

The press release by the global health authority stated that earlier this month more than 15 countries took part in Exercise Polaris, which “simulated an outbreak of a fictional virus spreading across the world,” aiming to test readiness for a new pandemic.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned earlier this month that a new pandemic “could happen in 20 years or more, or it could happen tomorrow,” describing it as an “epidemiological certainty.”

The exercise reportedly simulated an outbreak of “Mammothpox,” a fictional virus similar to smallpox, a disease with a 30% mortality rate that was eradicated in 1980, and mpox, a dangerous variant of which is currently surging across central Africa.

According to the scenario, the virus was released after a team of scientists and documentary filmmakers excavated the remains of a woolly mammoth in the Arctic. Within weeks, intensive care units across the world were “overwhelmed” and health systems were struggling to cope.

Although the countries involved in the exercise were able to contain the fictional virus, a real outbreak would prove much more complicated, the WHO acknowledged.

The agency’s briefing document reportedly stated that “ancient viruses can remain viable in permafrost for thousands of years,” and the thawing of the permafrost in the Arctic due to climate change may cause a “release of pathogens previously unknown to modern medicine.”

Taking advantage of the warmer temperatures, scientists and ivory hunters are digging for ancient remains in the Arctic, including those of woolly mammoths, The Telegraph noted. Many ivory hunters reportedly carry out the excavations without taking adequate health precautions.

Scientists have also been studying ancient samples, with researchers working on bringing to life “zombie viruses” found alongside frozen animal remains, which could potentially be deadly to humans. A virus revived by French scientist Jean-Michel Claverie in 2023 was 48,500 years old, based on radiocarbon dating.