NEW DELHI: The scientists who helped to discover the Ebola virus in 1976 warned against an unknown number of new and potentially fatal viruses faced by mankind, 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 that is what constitutes a threat to humanity”.
Muyembe’s statement comes on the heels of a patient being infected with a pathogen that has not yet been identified, but had symptoms similar to Ebola.
In a remote city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a woman last month showed the first signs of hemorrhagic fever. Their samples were tested for ebola and other diseases with similar symptoms.
All returned negative, making the disease that affected the woman a mystery.
Scientists speculated whether she could be patient zero for “Disease X”, the first known infection of a new pathogen that, say the researchers, could be more contagious than Covid-19 and with a 50 to 90 percent mortality rate % of ebola.
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its global plan to accelerate research and development during health emergencies and also included “Disease X” in its ‘R&D Plan 2018’.
The 2018 R&D project prioritized nine diseases for R&D, consisting of Covid-19, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease, Lassa fever, Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus (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 lack an effective medication or vaccine.
What is disease X?
“X” means unexpected, explained Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The WHO said it “represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown for causing human disease”.
As of now, disease X remains hypothetical, an outbreak that scientists and public health experts fear could lead to serious illnesses around the world if and when it occurs.
Speaking to CNN, Muyembe warned of many other zoonotic diseases – those that jump from animals to humans – to come.
Zoonotic diseases like yellow fever, rabies, brucellosis and Lyme disease have spread from animals to humans and have caused epidemics and pandemics before. While deadly HIV emerged from a type of chimpanzee and then mutated into a fatal disease, SARS-CoV-2, along with SARS and MERS are all coronaviruses that have suddenly passed from animals to humans.
(With contributions 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 that is what constitutes a threat to humanity”.
Muyembe’s statement comes on the heels of a patient being infected with a pathogen that has not yet been identified, but had symptoms similar to Ebola.
In a remote city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a woman last month showed the first signs of hemorrhagic fever. Their samples were tested for ebola and other diseases with similar symptoms.
All returned negative, making the disease that affected the woman a mystery.
Scientists speculated whether she could be patient zero for “Disease X”, the first known infection of a new pathogen that, say the researchers, could be more contagious than Covid-19 and with a 50 to 90 percent mortality rate % of ebola.
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its global plan to accelerate research and development during health emergencies and also included “Disease X” in its ‘R&D Plan 2018’.
The 2018 R&D project prioritized nine diseases for R&D, consisting of Covid-19, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease, Lassa fever, Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus (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 lack an effective medication or vaccine.
What is disease X?
“X” means unexpected, explained Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The WHO said it “represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown for causing human disease”.
As of now, disease X remains hypothetical, an outbreak that scientists and public health experts fear could lead to serious illnesses around the world if and when it occurs.
Speaking to CNN, Muyembe warned of many other zoonotic diseases – those that jump from animals to humans – to come.
Zoonotic diseases like yellow fever, rabies, brucellosis and Lyme disease have spread from animals to humans and have caused epidemics and pandemics before. While deadly HIV emerged from a type of chimpanzee and then mutated into a fatal disease, SARS-CoV-2, along with SARS and MERS are all coronaviruses that have suddenly passed from animals to humans.
(With contributions from agencies)