March 14, 2018.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has just updated its list of diseases for which “an urgent research and development effort” is considered essential. Among them, “disease X”.
Knowing how to anticipate a pandemic risk
Among the list of diseases which represent a real danger for the future, the WHO mentioned “disease X”. A mysterious affection which should be the subject of a priority action of research and development. But what is it exactly? In reality, it is not a new disease but a way for health authorities to prepare for a major epidemic risk.
” Disease X represents the fact that an epidemic of global could be caused by a pathogen that is not yet known to be transmissible to humans “, Notes the WHO. And to invite the States to prepare for it and to launch research to reduce as much as possible the risks of propagation. The risk of an epidemic as large as it is devastating like the Spanish flu could indeed see the light of day.
Prepare for the worst
This flu had affected many countries in 1918 and had killed between 30 and 100 million people, more than the First World War. According to the WHO, we should at all costs prevent such a tragedy from happening again. ” We know the next great pandemic will be something never seen before “, Warned John-Arme Rottinger, scientific adviser to the WHO, in the columns of the British daily The Telegraph.
According to the WHO, 9 diseases can cause a public health emergency : Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF); Ebola virus and Marburg virus; Lassa fever; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS); henipaviral diseases; Rift Valley fever (RVF); and this famous disease X.
Marine Rondot
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