'Disease X' Can Cause A Deadlier Pandemic After Covid-19: WHO Issues Warning

At a time when the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic has come to an end, the World Health Organization's (WHO) recent warning of an emerging deadlier virus has left scientists worried. WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, while speaking at the annual health assembly in Geneva, warned that the world needs to be prepared for a future virus. He added that it could be even deadlier than COVID-19. Not just that, he also emphasised the need to prioritise negotiations to prevent future pandemics. With Tedros' recent warning about the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential, it has left scientists and health experts wary of the next outbreak and scrambling for the list of 'priority diseases' on the global health body's website. 

While the world is already familiar with deadly outbreaks of Ebola, SARS, and Zika, WHO has added 'Disease X' to its 'priority diseases' list. But the virus is yet to be identified by medical science.

The term 'Disease X' was coined by the health body in 2018, a year after which COVID-19 started spreading across the world. 

Scientists on the emergence of 'Disease X'

Dr Richard Hatchett of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations told The Telegraph that the term is not just a work of science fiction, but a scenario, for which scientists need to remain prepared.

On the other hand, Dr Pranab Chatterjee, from the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, spoke to The National Post and asserted that there is a potential for a 'Disease X' event just around the corner. He further cited the recent occurrences of H5N1 bird flu cases in Cambodia, adding that public health specialists believe that the next Disease X will likely be zoonotic, originating from wild or domestic animals before spilling over to infect humans.

For the unversed, zoonotic outbreaks resulted in deadly events like Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and COVID-19.

On the other hand, WHO's priority list also includes diseases like the Marburg virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Nipah and Henipa viral diseases, Rift Valley fever, and Middle East respiratory syndrome.