What is Disease X virus, touted by medical experts as cause for next global pandemic
According to the World Health Organization, “Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease.”
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Disease X Pandemic: The world is yet to get over the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, but the threat of a new pandemic is looming large. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently warned against Disease X, saying the pathogen can cause a serious international pandemic.
What is Disease X that is rearing its ugly head in no time, posing a threat as serious as causing a global pandemic? Let's give answers to your unanswered questions.
What is Disease X?
The term was coined by the WHO in 2018 on their shortlist of blueprint priority diseases to represent an unknown hypothetical pathogen that could cause a future epidemic.
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Why Disease X is hitting the headlines
Kate Bingham, who was the head of the UK's vaccine taskforce from May to December 2020, told the Daily Mail in an interview that Disease X has the potential to kill million more people than the coronavirus pandemic.
"Let me put it this way: the 1918–19 flu pandemic killed at least 50 million people worldwide, twice as many as were killed in World War I. Today, we could expect a similar death toll from one of the many viruses that already exist," she told the Daily Mail last week.
She said the mutated variants of COVID-19 pale in comparison to the other viral threats (Disease X) out there.
"Imagine Disease X is as infectious as measles with the fatality rate of Ebola (67 per cent). Somewhere in the world, it’s replicating, and sooner or later, somebody will start feeling sick.
What WHO says about Disease X
According to the World Health Organization, “Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease.”