The World Health Organization maintains a list of “priority diseases” that could cause the next deadly epidemic.
Most of the diseases on this list are already known to us, including Ebola, SARS, and Zika, but there are warnings of currently unknown pathogens that can cause what is known as “disease X.”
And days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that “Covid-19” was no longer a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the epidemic that has killed at least 7 million people worldwide, experts fear that “disease X” may cause a more deadly epidemic.
The World Health Organization uses the term “disease X” as a placeholder to describe a disease unknown to medical science that may cause human infection.
And as a new disease agent—whether it be a virus, bacteria, fungus, or some other—there will likely be no vaccines or few, if any, treatments.
Dr Richard Hatchett, of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, told the British Telegraph: “This is not the stuff of science fiction. This is a scenario for which we have to prepare. This is Disease X.”
The term “Disease X” was coined by the World Health Organization in 2018. One year later, when “COVID-19” began to spread throughout China, the world witnessed a deadly epidemic caused by a new virus – “Disease X” appeared.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that the potential for Disease X is just around the corner,” Dr. Pranab Chatterjee, a researcher in the department of international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, told the National Post. H5N1 in Cambodia is just one example.”
Some public health experts believe that the next “Disease X” will be zoonotic, meaning that it will originate in wild or domestic animals and then spread to humans. Ebola, HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 were outbreaks of zoonotic diseases. However, there are other sources of disease and “bioterrorism” could be the cause of the next epidemic.
The possibility of an engineered pandemic pathogen also cannot be ignored, the authors of a 2021 article published in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology said. They added: “The release of such pathogens, either through laboratory accidents or as an act of bioterrorism, may lead to the disaster of Disease X as well, and it has been noted as a global catastrophic risk.”
Another possible source could be “zombie” viruses that have been trapped in permafrost or other frozen landscapes for centuries, but have been released due to a warming climate.
Other priority diseases on the WHO list include Marburg virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Nipah disease and Middle East respiratory syndrome, among others.
To prevent and control outbreaks of ‘Disease X’, medical experts around the world are calling for increased funds to support surveillance and research for potential epidemic agents.
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2023-05-25 12:09:57
#disease #Experts #warn #unknown #pathogen #deadly #epidemic
