What Is 'Disease X'? Here's All You Need To Know About The 'Next Pandemic'
The global health body has included Disease X in the list of its "priority diseases."
'Disease X' is once again in the news after a United Kingdom health expert warned about the "next pandemic."
Kate Bingham, who chaired the UK's Vaccine Taskforce between May and December 2020 has warned that next major pandemic could possible kill millions more than Covid-19.
"Let me put it this way: the 1918–19 flu pandemic killed at least 50 million people worldwide, twice as many as were killed in World War I. Today, we could expect a similar death toll from one of the many viruses that already exist," she wrote in Daily Mail.
What is Disease X?
According to the information on the World Health Organization's website, "Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease."
The global health body has included Disease X in the list of its "priority diseases."
According to WHO, worldwide, the number of potential pathogens is very large, while the resources for disease research and development (R&D) is limited.
To ensure efforts under WHO’s R&D Blueprint are focused and productive, a list of diseases and pathogens are prioritized for R&D in public health emergency contexts.
A WHO tool distinguishes which diseases pose the greatest public health risk due to their epidemic potential and/or whether there is no or insufficient countermeasures.
At present, the priority diseases are:
COVID-19
Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever
Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease
Lassa fever
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
Nipah and henipaviral diseases
Rift Valley fever
Zika
“Disease X”
WHO says that this is not an exhaustive list nor does it indicate the most likely causes of the next epidemic.
In November 2022, WHO launched a global scientific process to update the list of priority pathogens—agents that can cause outbreaks or pandemics—to guide global investment, research and development (R&D), especially in vaccines, tests and treatments.
To combat Disease X, Bingham said, "we will once again need vaccines to be engineered and delivered in record time. But, as things stand, there is absolutely no guarantee that will happen."
"In a sense, we got lucky with Covid-19, despite the fact that it caused 20 million or more deaths across the world. The point is that the vast majority of people infected with the virus managed to recover," she said.
She said that the remarkable success of the scientific drive against Covid-19 shows what can be achieved when we pull together, "but next time, we need to be far better and far faster."
