Can the pathogenic disease or disease X as termed by the WHO turn into an epidemic worse than the COVID-19 pandemic?
A few days after the World Health Organization announced that the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a global threat, they also announced that there may be another disease termed as ‘disease X’, which could spread in the future. Experts fear that this disease can be deadlier that COVID-19. The WHO also said that, a pathogen which is currently not known to cause human disease could be the cause of another world epidemic. This pathogen has been represented by disease X.
According to reports, experts are finding out some ways to tackle the outbreak of this disease. They say that they are trying to raise funds to start surveillance and expand research into the pathogen and its dangers. Dr Monalisa Sahu, Consultant Infectious Diseases, Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad spoke to The Health Site with her inputs on disease X.
When Was Disease X First Discovered?
The first case of disease X was suspected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to rets, a woman showed early symptoms of hemorrhagic fever. That is when doctors feared that it could be the symptom of this disease. Disease X basically stands for unrecognized and unexpected disease which could be very deadly in the future, especially deadlier than the pandemic.
What Do Experts Say?
Dr Monalisa Sahu says, “The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently released the list of priority diseases under their scanner currently in an official statement . The list also includes an entity called ” disease X”. The other priority diseases on the WHO list include Ebola, SARS, Zika Marburg virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Nipah and henipaviral diseases, Rift Valley fever and Middle East respiratory syndrome.”
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They used for the disease which has a potential to cause a serious international epidemic or a pandemic, which could be caused by any pathogen including virus or bacteria or a fungus, or any other agent , and the treatment for which may be unknown or may be unavailable and even may be unavailability of vaccines.
This term had already been used by the WHO in 2018, a year after which the pandemic of COVID-19 appeared. Speculations point towards the possibility of the next pandemic being a zoonotic like Ebola, or COVID-19.
The time during which the disease might appear may be just around the corner. Adequate research, technology development, and surveillance activities need to be in place for early diagnosis of these disease condition. Early preparedness is warranted for timely control of these conditions as and when they appear. Lack of preparedness can lead to massive chaos and devastation as witnessed during the COVID-19 all across the globe.
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