NEW DELHI: Scientists who helped discover the Ebola virus in 1976 warned of an unknown number of new and potentially deadly viruses facing humanity, including ‘Disease X’.
“We are now in a world where new pathogens will emerge,” said Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, who helped discover the Ebola virus in 1976, adding: “And it is a threat to humanity. ”
Muyembe’s statement comes on the heels of a patient infected with a pathogen that has not yet been identified but has symptoms such as Ebola.
In a remote city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a woman showed early signs of hemorrhagic fever last month. Her samples were tested for Ebola and other diseases with similar symptoms.
Everyone came back negative, which made the disease that affected the woman a mystery.
Scientists have speculated that she may be the patient zero of ‘Disease X’, the first known infection of a new pathogen that researchers say could be more contagious than Covid-19 and with a 50 to 90 percent mortality rate from Ebola.
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its global plan for speeding up research and development during health emergencies and also included “Disease X” in its ‘2018 R&D Blueprint’.
The 2018 R&D design prioritized nine diseases for R&D, consisting of Covid-19, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola virus and Marburg virus disease, Lassa fever, coronavirus in the Middle East. Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Nipah and Henipaviral Disease, Rift Valley Fever, Zika and the latest addition “Disease X”.
All of these diseases do not have an effective remedy or vaccine.
What is disease X?
“X” stands for unexpected, explains Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The WHO said it was “knowing that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen that is currently still unknown to cause human diseases.”
Disease X remains hypothetical from now on, an outbreak that scientists and public health experts fear could lead to serious diseases around the world if and when they occur.
In an interview with CNN, Muyembe warned against many more zoonotic diseases – those that jump from animals to humans – to come.
Zoonotic diseases such as jaundice, rabies, brucellosis and Lyme disease have spread from animals to humans and have previously caused epidemics and pandemics. While the deadly HIV emerged from a species of chimpanzee and then mutated into a fatal disease, SARS-CoV-2, along with SARS, and MERS are all coronaviruses that have suddenly jumped from animals to humans.
(With input from agencies)
“We are now in a world where new pathogens will emerge,” said Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, who helped discover the Ebola virus in 1976, adding: “And it is a threat to humanity. ”
Muyembe’s statement comes on the heels of a patient infected with a pathogen that has not yet been identified but has symptoms such as Ebola.
In a remote city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a woman showed early signs of hemorrhagic fever last month. Her samples were tested for Ebola and other diseases with similar symptoms.
Everyone came back negative, which made the disease that affected the woman a mystery.
Scientists have speculated that she may be the patient zero of ‘Disease X’, the first known infection of a new pathogen that researchers say could be more contagious than Covid-19 and with a 50 to 90 percent mortality rate from Ebola.
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its global plan for speeding up research and development during health emergencies and also included “Disease X” in its ‘2018 R&D Blueprint’.
The 2018 R&D design prioritized nine diseases for R&D, consisting of Covid-19, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola virus and Marburg virus disease, Lassa fever, coronavirus in the Middle East. Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Nipah and Henipaviral Disease, Rift Valley Fever, Zika and the latest addition “Disease X”.
All of these diseases do not have an effective remedy or vaccine.
What is disease X?
“X” stands for unexpected, explains Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The WHO said it was “knowing that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen that is currently still unknown to cause human diseases.”
Disease X remains hypothetical from now on, an outbreak that scientists and public health experts fear could lead to serious diseases around the world if and when they occur.
In an interview with CNN, Muyembe warned against many more zoonotic diseases – those that jump from animals to humans – to come.
Zoonotic diseases such as jaundice, rabies, brucellosis and Lyme disease have spread from animals to humans and have previously caused epidemics and pandemics. While the deadly HIV emerged from a species of chimpanzee and then mutated into a fatal disease, SARS-CoV-2, along with SARS, and MERS are all coronaviruses that have suddenly jumped from animals to humans.
(With input from agencies)