In 2020 the world was introduced to one of the deadliest pandemics of all time, COVID-19. Although we survived the disease, the damage was immense. But scientists are now saying a new pandemic might surface soon. The disease has been dubbed as Disease X and could be 20 times deadlier than COVID-19 says the health experts.
Although the news about Disease X is now very common, the term was actually coined years ago. The idea behind Disease X was to encourage scientists to work on medical countermeasures for unknown infectious diseases. At the time of COVID-19, we saw how devastating the damage was. If we could somehow prepare ourselves beforehand, the damage might be under control. instead of studying known pathogens like Ebola, the idea is to encourage the development of platform technologies such as vaccines, drug therapies, and diagnostic tests. So, if there’s any pandemic threat, immediate actions can be taken.
What is Disease X?
It’s the somewhat enigmatic name for a disease brought on by a major yet unidentified microbial danger. Along with well-known killers like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Ebola, Disease X was added by the World Health Organization to a limited list of diseases in 2017 that were assessed to be a major priority for research.
When COVID-19, a novel coronavirus, started the pandemic at the end of 2019, it was an example of Disease X. Numerous viruses present in wildlife are thought to be a possible source of additional cases of these illnesses. The reason for this is that they have the ability to spread to other animals, including humans, and infect them, leading to an infection to which people won’t be immune.
How dangerous can Disease X be?
We shouldn’t be complacent, Kate Bingham, who will serve as chair of the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce from May 2020 through December 2020, told the Daily Mail. “Let me put it this way: the flu pandemic that swept the world in 1918–19 killed at least 50 million people, more than twice as many as died in World War I.
“Today, one of the numerous viruses that already exist may cause a similar number of deaths. More viruses are actively multiplying and evolving today than all other types of life put together. Of course, not all of them are dangerous to people, but a lot of them are.”
She further added “Despite the fact that Covid-19 resulted in at least 20 million fatalities worldwide, in a way, we got lucky with it. The important thing to remember is that the majority of those who contracted the virus recovered. Imagine that Disease X has an Ebola-like fatality rate (67%) and is as contagious as measles. It’s replicating somewhere on the planet, and sooner or later, sickness will strike someone.” This horrific news from Bingham isn’t to be taken lightly.
She also stated that 25 virus families have been identified and each of these comprises up to thousands of individual viruses that have the potential to evolve and cause a pandemic. Bingham said that we need to “put money on the table” and prepare to protect mankind from “real viruses”.